Kyle Busch Gets Engaged

Kyle Busch is a softie. Just ask his fiancée, Samantha Sarcinella.

Yes, you read that right: NASCAR’s bad boy is engaged as of last night, proposing inside the sparkling new motorcoach that the couple designed together.

Here’s how it went down, according to the giddy future Mrs. Kyle Busch:

On Thursday night, Busch went to the Budweiser Shootout draw while Sarcinella hung out with the couple’s close friends Scott and Amanda Speed.

Busch returned after drawing for his qualifying spot and after awhile, Amanda Speed told Sarcinella that she should go grab her new shoes for a show-and-tell.

While the unsuspecting Sarcinella returned to the motorcoach to fetch her shoes, the Speeds slipped Busch the ring, which they had picked up in North Carolina earlier in the day.

The Speeds had been in on the whole plan. In October, as Amanda Speed shopped for new earrings, Sarcinella tried on rings in the jewelry store. Scott Speed secretly took copious notes on his iPhone as to what style of ring Sarcinella liked and supplied Busch with the information when his friend decided to propose.

The diamond came from Amsterdam to New York to North Carolina, where the Speeds and Busch went to approve it in a Charlotte-area jewelry store (Busch bought himself some time by telling Sarcinella he was going to take his required NASCAR physical that day).

Fast forward to roughly 11 p.m. Thursday night. Sarcinella, 23, was in her workout clothes getting ready for bed, and Busch, 24, pulled her into the living room of their new bus.

“He was like, ‘It’s our first night on our new bus, and we designed it together and I’m so happy,‘” Sarcinella said. “And he kept saying ‘I love you.’”

But Sarcinella said she had “no idea” what he was getting at. The couple had talked about marriage before, but with the formation of Busch’s new Camping World Truck Series team, Sarcinella figured it might take awhile.

So when Busch was making his speech, Sarcinella said she simply thought: “Wow! He really likes the bus!”

“Then he gets down on one knee,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Are you joking?‘ He’s like, ‘No, I love you. Will you marry me?’

“I was like, ‘You’re kidding!‘ I didn’t answer him for a minute. I just stood there, like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I don’t remember the rest of it. I was crying, hysterical.”

For his part, Busch said he wasn’t nervous - the nervous part was asking her father, Steve, for his permission in December (“Her answer was the easy part,” he said).

Busch told Steve Sarcinella he couldn’t tell anyone - even his wife. Sarcinella kept his word until the couple called and woke up the family with the good news.

Samantha said her father’s reaction was, “Thank gosh! I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.”

Busch, looking happy and relaxed, said he didn’t plan out his proposal speech and just did it off the cuff.

Sarcinella, still in disbelief, could hardly contain herself.

“Coming from Kyle, you know?” she said. “I laughed and said to him, ‘Oh, your bad boy image...’”

His new image might just be “family man.”