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Kyle Busch isn't close to done in NASCAR. He has dreams to race with his son, after all.

Alex Zietlow, The Charlotte Observer on

Published in Auto Racing

CONCORD, N.C. — Richard Childress Racing picked up Kyle Busch’s driver option in his contract for 2026 on Saturday, keeping the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion on one of the most decorated organizations in motorsports.

And during the press conference announcing the news, two drivers were asked about a bunch:

Kyle Busch, obviously.

But also Brexton Busch, Kyle’s son.

It’s natural, of course. Kyle, who turned 40 earlier this month, is in the throes of his 20th Cup Series season. His legacy as a first-ballot Hall of Fame driver is intact, having accomplished pretty much everything in stock car racing. That includes winning the longest NASCAR race in the 2019 Coca-Cola 600, which this year is set for a 6 p.m. ET green flag Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

And while Kyle hasn’t contemplated retirement, he said, what’s left to accomplish is a shorter list than what it once was. One dream still out there for Kyle, however, involves his 10-year-old son.

“There’s kind of a vision, a plan if you will, on being able to race in some Truck races, with Brexton, alongside him,” Kyle Busch told reporters Saturday in the Charlotte Motor Speedway media center. “Obviously it’s six years from now until he can make that start. That would be an idea when I would look at stepping aside from Cup Series racing. But that’s a long ways out.”

Brexton, it should be reiterated, is only 10. The youngest NASCAR drivers are 18, 19, 20 — and the youngest a driver can be to race in a NASCAR Truck Series race is 16 — so Brexton’s professional driving career is still a bit away. Kyle chuckled and said that he hasn’t made the jump as his son’s agent “quite yet.”

But Brexton’s racing career is already ahead of schedule. He made his Legends car debut earlier this week, finishing 16th at Hickory in a battle where he and Kevin Harvick’s son, Keelan, commanded headlines. Brexton has a website. An active social media page. When Kyle Busch signed to RCR in September 2022, Richard Childress gave Brexton a ceremonial contract and a $100 bill — a kind gesture and a fun moment, but also an acknowledgment that there will be another Busch in racing for a while.

Financially, too, Brexton’s career is beginning to take shape, according to his father.

 

“I’m grateful to Richard and all of our partners that we have at RCR, that many of them do take an interest in him, and see an interest in him, most notably Lucas Oil is a part of his racing,” Kyle Busch said. “Morgan & Morgan (law firm) has picked up on that and put him in a commercial. So those are really unique situations. Cheddar’s (restaurant) as well too helps out on his racing. So those are unique situations where those partners are really happy and pleased with him and what he’s doing off the racetrack. So it helps our budget a little bit with his racing. Grateful for that.”

Childress has thoughts about his racing team’s life after Kyle Busch, too.

“I’ve watched him race some,” Childress said of Brexton. “And watched him on some of the YouTube stuff or different things, or something somebody would send me, and I’d congratulate him. I mean, he won a championship in Florida. And I texted him and congratulated him on that.”

The six-time Cup championship owner added: “He’s the real deal.” He then pointed to Kyle. “Just like this one.”

Have you thought about how Brexton figures into RCR’s future, Richard?

”Yeah,” he said. “I just hope I’m around 10 years from now. I’m not as young as I used to be.”

Neither is Kyle, of course.

But the Busch name doesn’t appear to be leaving NASCAR anytime soon.


©2025 The Charlotte Observer. Visit charlotteobserver.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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