{"id":59017,"date":"2026-06-06T21:20:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/?p=59017"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:20:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T02:20:51","slug":"richard-childress-reflects-on-kyle-buschs-legacy-reveals-extension-plans-at-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/06\/richard-childress-reflects-on-kyle-buschs-legacy-reveals-extension-plans-at-michigan\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Childress reflects on Kyle Busch\u2019s Legacy, reveals extension plans at Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service<\/em><\/p>\n

Sounding melancholy and expressing his continued disbelief over the tragic loss of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion driver Kyle Busch only two weeks ago, Busch\u2019s team owner Richard Childress addressed the media Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway.<\/p>\n

\"\"

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA – MAY 24: (L-R) NASCAR Hall of Famer and RCR team owner, Richard Childress, Samantha Busch (wife) Brexton Busch (son) and NASCAR Chief Executive Officer Steve O\u2019Donnell stand on the grid during the remembrance ceremony for Kyle Busch, who passed away suddenly at the age of 41, prior to the NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2026 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was the first time the NASCAR Hall of Famer owner Childress has spoken at length publicly since the 41-year-old Busch\u2019s death in Charlotte May 21 from pneumonia and sepsis. And the emotion was still raw – the days and weeks since Busch passed away still so difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an unbelievable challenge we all are facing losing Kyle Busch at such a young age and so unexpected for all of us,” said Childress, whose Richard Childress Racing team fields the Chevrolets for Busch and Childress\u2019 grandson Austin in the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n

Childress allowed that one of the \u201chardest parts\u201d of coming forward Saturday to speak of Busch\u2019s impact on the team and legacy on the sport, was that the two had originally planned to speak to the media on this day to reveal that Busch had signed a one-year contract extension with the team keeping with RCR through 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now it\u2019s a different kind of media availability,” Childress said glancing down and conceding even up until that very moment he \u201cstill had envisioned walking in [to the media center] with Kyle.”<\/p>\n

He revealed that he and Busch had spoken the Tuesday night before Kyle\u2019s passing only two days later, calling it a \u201cgreat conversation.\u201d He said that Busch was invigorated about how things were going with the team and eager to see what another year together may bring, telling Childress, \u201cYou give me cars like you did the last three weeks, and he said, \u201cI will make the Chase [NASCAR playoffs] this year.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were that confident.”<\/p>\n

And Childress confirmed Saturday that RCR\u2019s longtime NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series driver, Austin Hill will continue to compete in both series – driving Busch\u2019s former car \u2013 with the number 33 instead of Busch\u2019s number 8 \u2013 for the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

Childress spoke often of Busch\u2019s family \u2013 wife Samantha, 11-year-old son Brexton and four-year-old daughter Lennix \u2013 acknowledging how much love and pride Busch unfailingly carried and demonstrated for them.<\/p>\n

He promised to keep Busch\u2019s personally stylized No. 8 available for the talented young driver Brexton whenever and for whoever he competes for one day. He\u2019s attended several of Brexton Busch\u2019s races, including one this week saying of the young standout, \u201cThat kid can drive a race car.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just a bright young man and a great race car driver and he\u2019ll carry the Busch legacy for many years to come.”<\/p>\n

Busch\u2019s legacy is something Childress mentioned often during his 15-minute meeting with the press in advance of Sunday\u2019s FireKeepers Casino 400 (3 p.m. ET on Prime, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) .<\/p>\n

His 254 combined wins in NASCAR\u2019s three national series \u2013 the NASCAR Cup Series, O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series \u2013 will likely never be equaled. And Busch holds the all-time win mark in the O\u2019Reilly Series (102) and Truck Series (69); claiming a victory in the Truck Series at Dover, Del. only six days before his passing.<\/p>\n

His 63 victories in the NASCAR Cup Series are ninth most in the history of the sport. And Busch is one of only 18 drivers to win multiple championships (2015 and 2019).<\/p>\n

\u201cKyle will go down in history as one of the greatest race car drivers that\u2019s ever been,” Childress said. \u201cHe\u2019ll definitely be in the [NASCAR] Hall of Fame and I\u2019d love to see them put him in it right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think his legacy is going to be he was a man who a lot of people thought was tough to deal with,” Childress said acknowledging Busch\u2019s legendarily bold personality.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he is a man that loves this sport. He loved it so much he wanted to see his family carry on and to watch what he had going on with Brexton, just to see the enjoyment in Kyle\u2019s eyes watching his son race was just unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legacy in history will be that he will go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time. \u2026 and all of us are going to miss him.”<\/p>\n

Interview: Richard Childress Media Availability –<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Sounding melancholy and expressing his continued disbelief over the tragic loss of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion driver Kyle Busch only two weeks ago, Busch\u2019s team owner Richard Childress addressed the media Saturday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway. It was the first time the NASCAR Hall of Famer owner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":58689,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[59,16,685],"class_list":["post-59017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-kyle-busch","tag-nascar","tag-richard-childress"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/GettyImages-2278039144.jpg?fit=2449%2C1656&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-flT","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59019,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59017\/revisions\/59019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}