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FRIDAY MAY 22nd, 2026
Kyle Busch, a generational talent who rose to become a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and one of the sport’s greatest drivers, died Thursday. He was 41.
Busch’s death, which was announced by the Busch family, NASCAR and Richard Childress Racing, marked a sudden, staggering blow to the motorsports community. His team had indicated earlier Thursday that Busch had been hospitalized with a severe illness.
Busch was in his 22nd full-time season in NASCAR’s top division, where he won two Cup Series titles (2015, 2019) and 63 races — a figure that ranks ninth on the circuit’s all-time win list. His numbers across the other two national NASCAR series are record-setting, with 102 victories in what is now called the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and 69 wins in the Craftsman Truck Series.
The Busch family, Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR made the following joint statement: “On behalf of the Busch family, everyone at Richard Childress Racing and all of NASCAR, we are devastated to announce the sudden and tragic passing of Kyle Busch.
Howard Fendrich, a national sports writer for The Associated Press whose persistent reporting and detail-rich prose brought readers inside dozens of taut Grand Slam tennis finals, record-breaking Olympic moments and harrowing trips down Alpine ski slopes, has died. He was 55.
Fendrich died Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his wife Rosanna Maietta said. He was diagnosed with cancer in February shortly after returning from Milan, where he covered his 11th Olympics.
Tennis great Roger Federer, who estimated he’d had more than 100 interactions with Fendrich over the decades, called the journalist “one of those constant and reassuring presences in the tennis world for many years.”
“He started covering tennis in 2002, right around the time I was starting to have my breakthrough in the sport, and over time he truly became part of the fabric of tennis,” Federer said. “Tennis lost a wonderful journalist and a great person.”
- Early Years: Born in Leighton, Alabama, Hughes started his music career singing gospel in a local quartet called The Singing Clouds.
- Muscle Shoals Pioneer: In 1962, a friend introduced him to producer Rick Hall. His audition led to his recording of “I’m Qualified” and the iconic “Steal Away”, which peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of “Steal Away” helped establish FAME Studios and the Muscle Shoals scene on the national map.
- Stax Years: In 1968, he relocated to Memphis and signed with Stax Records, recording several singles before retiring from the music industry in 1970.
- Passing: Hughes passed away on May 20, 2026, at the age of 88. [1, 2, 3, 4]