The Coca-Cola 600 was always going to feel different this year. The tributes, the silence in the garage, and tears in almost every driver’s eyes screamed something far bigger than just a race weekend, and Daniel Suarez’s reaction when he came out of his car, crossing the checkered flag in a rain-shortened race, proved that.

Suarez, who owes a lot of his career to Busch, looked up to the rainy sky, crying, and dedicated his win to the two-time Cup champ. He then paid homage to Rowdy and how he was the reason behind his rise to becoming a Cup Series driver.

Daniel Suarez dedicates his victory to Kyle Busch

“Kyle, he was special. We won it for Kyle, for Samantha, for Brexton, for Lennix, for his family,” Suarez said after winning the Coca-Cola 600.

“This one has a special flavor because of Kyle. This one is for him. If it wasn’t for Kyle, I wasn’t going to be an Xfinity champion. I wasn’t going to have my shot in the Cup series, and to be able to win this race for him is unbelievable,” he added.

The moment was heartbreaking, and the weather, which caused officials to end the race 27 laps prematurely, seemed fitting for the somber occasion.

When Suarez first arrived in the U.S., he barely spoke any English. It was Kyle who helped him settle in. He gave him tips on how to improve his racecraft, taught him tricks, and stayed by his side even when they weren’t on the track. In 2015, during his Xfinity campaign with Joe Gibbs Racing, Suárez claimed that Busch called him nearly every week to explain racetracks, race strategy, and vehicle setups. He voluntarily became one of Suarez’s most trusted mentors when he needed him the most.

“I was the kind of person… I was a sponge,” he said on the weekend. “I wanted as much information as possible. And I remember when I started getting good, and we started racing together, and he said, ‘I think you’re getting too good. I think I need to stop helping you.’ But he always continued to help me. So to me that was very impactful.”

Suarez would go on to win the 2015 Xfinity Series Rookie of the Year award and the 2016 Xfinity Series title. To him, it was all because of Busch.

Even others on the track acknowledged it. After Suarez’s win on Sunday, Kyle Larson pointed to KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) and its role in developing raw talent into race-ready drivers, with Suarez being a prime example.

“He [Suaerz] did a great job to hold off some extremely fast cars, and the meaning of this win. It’s just awesome for them, the old KBM shop, Jeff Dickerson, he meant a lot to Kyle, it feels meant to be,” Larson told Alan Cavanna after the race.

One of the Most Emotional Wins in NASCAR

After many delays forced NASCAR to stop the race with 28 laps remaining under yellow, Suarez was declared the official winner of the rain-shortened outing at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was his first win with Spire Motorsports and the third Cup Series victory of his career, and it was far from simple.

Teams continuously responded to shifting track conditions and impending weather concerns, resulting in 32 lead changes among 13 different drivers during the race. Suarez’s No. 7 Chevrolet started in 14th place, steadily gained ground throughout the evening, and with just over 30 laps remaining, found itself in the lead.

When NASCAR officially called the race, Suarez sat ahead of Christopher Bell by 0.421 seconds and Denny Hamlin by 0.841 seconds, all thanks to perfectly timing his final pit stop sequence.

By the end of the night, the Coca-Cola 600 did not feel like just another crown jewel race. Instead, it felt like one final emotional tribute to Kyle Busch, as if the racing gods and Mother Nature somehow found a way for his influence to cross the finish line first.

The emotion surrounding Suarez’s victory carried shades of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s iconic 2001 Daytona win, which came just months after Dale Earnhardt lost his life at Daytona International Speedway. Much like that night, there were very few dry eyes in the garage, especially on an evening when simply finishing the race felt difficult.