Kyle Busch gives elderly fan a Mother’s Day to remember

Kyle Busch usually doesn’t have much patience for drivers who get in his way on the track and reporters who ask about it afterward.

But when it comes to his fans, the Las Vegas native is more than generous with his time.

Such was the case again last week.

A fan named Kim Wherley wrote on Facebook that her 85-year-old mother, Gigi, was one of Busch’s biggest supporters. She said they had tickets for a NASCAR race in 2020 — her mom had never seen one in person — that ultimately was run in front of empty grandstands during the COVID pandemic.

Wherley wrote that her mom has blood cancer and had shoulder replacement surgery and has yet to see her first NASCAR race. But they planned to go to the one in Richmond, Virginia, in August. She wrote that if Kyle could somehow send her mom an autographed picture, it would make the day even more special.

He’s going to do much better than that after tracking down Gigi through others on social media.

“I read (about) you not being able to get to a race and living out one of your dreams, so we wanted to make that a reality,” Busch said in a video greeting. “So my friends at Toyota and Richmond Raceway are inviting you to come out to the race this summer and join us with (pit) passes and suite passes and come out there and meet me.

“Looking forward to it, and I wish you a happy Mother’s Day and see you soon,” Busch said on the video as Gigi broke into tears.

The gesture touched off a flood of warm responses on social media, including one that said, “I may not like Kyle Busch as a driver, but I like him as a human.”

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.