NASCAR Bride Samantha Busch On Family, Fitness & Fairy Tales

NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch met model Samantha Sarcinella in 2007, beginning a courtship that culminated in Kyle's marriage proposal last February. The pair tied the knot at a lavish New Year's Eve wedding in Chicago—and now they're letting Style Network viewers peek inside their one-of-a-kind celebration with Fast & Fabulous: A NASCAR Wedding.

We caught up with Sam in Daytona, where new hubby Kyle was gearing up for another winning season.

You've only had about a month and a half between the wedding and the start of racing season...
I'm at Daytona right now, making Kyle's dinner. He's been out on the track since about 9 a.m., so it's really pretty busy now.

Did you have time for a honeymoon?
Yes, we did! We stayed in Chicago the day after the wedding and did some pictures around town. We went to Sears Tower—now the Willis Tower—to the Sky Deck and took pictures there and at Union Station, and then the next day we hung out with family. Then we came back to North Carolina, and then took off less than a week after and went to Jamaica for eight days.

Have things changed for you since the big day?
Everybody asks that, if it's different now, and you know, things are great! They feel the same; the only difference is that I don't have the wedding to worry about, and all the little details all of the time, so it's good. It's actually a little bit less hectic than it was, I would say.

Do you enjoy being part of the NASCAR family?
I love it! Most of our bridesmaids and groomsmen were part of NASCAR in one way or another. When you travel on the road together for 10 months, they're like traveling family.

You spend most of the season on the road with Kyle. What's that like?
It's great! We are usually on the road Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday, and we travel all around the country—everywhere from Florida to California. It's awesome. We get to see a lot of different things, go to different places. Next week, we'll be in Phoenix.  We go hiking there. We get to go to Napa, where we'll go to the wineries. You make the best of where you are and find cool things to do there. I really enjoy it.

Do you have any tips  for staying sane and healthy on the road?
I work out all the time. Some tracks—like Daytona, where we are now—have a gym. I have an array of workout videos on the bus. I have an Xbox Kinect, which I use for Zumba Fitness, and all the fitness games. I bring my weights, and the girls and I power walk at the track. That's my sanity, with traveling so much: just keeping my workout schedules regular.

When you saw Kyle the first time, was it a lightning-bolt moment?
No, actually. It took time, because I was still at school and he was traveling all the time. It was great, how our relationship progressed—it started with texting and talking on the phone, and we really got to know each other that way. We met in the summer months and didn't actually see each other until four or five months later. It was nice not having to worry. You know, when you go on a first date, "Oh, what am I gonna wear? What's it gonna be like?" All that stuff. By the time we actually got around to our first date, we knew so much about each other. We took it slow, and it really worked out for the best. 

Since you're sharing your big day with the world, we have to ask: Are you a fan of wedding shows yourself?
I did watch a bunch of wedding shows when I was planning. I looked on websites and I looked at different magazines and I tried to take different elements, but really—I never wanted to copy anything. I really wanted [our wedding] to be unique and original. Maybe take a little bit of this and a little bit of that, make it work. The designer and Kyle were looking at me like, "What in the world are you doing?" But it ended up turning out really, really pretty, so I was happy.

So what ultimately inspired your design for the different elements?
What started it was the engagement ring; it's a vintage-inspired ring. I knew we were going to get married in the off-season, so I had the second week of December through January to pick a date. Kyle and I looked at the calendar and we thought: New Year's Eve. It has to be over-the-top, right? Because it's New Year's Eve. That kind of started it all, the ring and the date, and it just rose from there. I just looked through everything and took vintage elements and modern ones, a little bit of everything.

I designed the first invitation and I put a picture on Twitter to get feedback. No information or anything, just the general design. My family and friends were like, "It looks like a diploma." Thank God they're honest! So I completely scrapped that idea and started looking around online. I came across one that was silver with this black feather, and this really cool, almost scaly-textured paper. From there I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I did a gold-scale paper with purple ribbon and a big vintage brooch design, and a peacock feather that went across the invitation diagonally. It's so pretty.

What advice would you give a girlfriend about planning the wedding of her dreams?
Do whatever your heart desires. Don't be afraid to do something because other people might think it's ugly. What I always told everybody was, "You're either going to come to the wedding and think it's gorgeous or you're going to be, like, ‘ What the hell is she doing?' " But you know what? I loved it. And if you really want a fairy-tale day, it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks.

If you've had your heart set on something your whole life, don't worry. Just do it.

Get an intimate look at Kyle and Samantha Busch's beautiful big day in Fast & Fabulous: A NASCAR Wedding—only on Style.