“Calmed down a lot more” -'Rowdy' Kyle Busch credits Samantha Busch for inciting change in him

Kyle Busch got the Rowdy nickname for a reason. But even though he's still called by that name by his fans and others, Busch's 'Rowdy' ways have changed because of a couple of major changes in his life.

This was something the Richard Childress Racing driver recently touched upon in a conversation with Kenny Wallace. The former NASCAR driver asked Busch if his wife, Samantha Busch, has made him a better person.

"Oh yeah, a 1000%, definitely. The Rowdy nickname didn't come along because I wasn't. I did have a little bit of that before her and then obviously we dated a little bit, we've been married for 13 years now, so it's been a hot minute," Busch said on The Kenny Conversation.

The 2x Cup champion then pointed to an even bigger factor in his personality and temperament shifting towards more of where he is today. That factor is his children.

"I would say the kids thing kinda changes you a little bit too as well, more so, just I was still a hothead getting in to trouble doing crazy, stupid things with Samantha, being married to Samantha but when the kids came along, I think it kinda calmed down a lot more. I feel like that's probably the biggest sense," he added.

How did Kyle Busch and Samantha Busch first meet?

Samantha Busch and Kyle Busch first locked eyes back in 2007. Earlier this year, Samantha recalled that first meeting, revealing how she was sent by her promo model agency to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, her first time at a racetrack, to work for Chevrolet.

She was then approached by a lady who wondered if she wanted to go for a ride, considering it was a pretty hot day. It's then that Samantha Busch turned to Kyle's side of the story.

“So needless to say I hopped in the car and the first thing I said when I saw him in his Chevy tee and ice cold car was, ‘Wow you got a way better assignment then I did.’ He looked at me funny, assuming I knew who he was and we were off," she described, as per Racing News.

Afterwards, she invited him to hang out with them later that night to which he declined, saying that he had to work, which was him running in a Truck race. Then Samantha was asked for her number. They started texting, but she still didn't know who Kyle Busch was.

"My friend's Dad who overheard me telling her the story was actually the one who figured out that it was Kyle," she recalled.

This realization made her "super nervous" at first, but then they talked on the phone for four months before they went on a date and the rest, in her words, "is history."