05/22/26 04:01:00
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05/22 15:59 CDT Richard Childress Racing is retiring Kyle Busch's No. 8 car
until his son is ready to take over
Richard Childress Racing is retiring Kyle Busch's No. 8 car until his son is
ready to take over
By STEVE REED
AP Sports Writer
CONCORD, N.C. (AP) --- Richard Childress Racing is temporarily retiring Kyle
Busch's No. 8 Cup Series car --- at least until the late driver's 11-year-old
son Brexton is ready to take over behind the wheel.
RCR will run the No. 33 car on the Cup Series circuit beginning Sunday night at
the Coca-Cola 600 and for the foreseeable future after the 41-year-old Busch
died unexpectedly Thursday. The cause of death has not been released.
Austin Hill is scheduled to replace Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion, in
the driver's seat at Charlotte Motor Speedway for NASCAR's longest race of the
season.
Busch's son, Brexton, is already known for his racing exploits, having won the
Tulsa Shootout Jr. Sprint Championship to earn his first career Golden Driller
last year.
"Kyle Busch was instrumental in the design of RCR's stylized No. 8 and it has
become synonymous with Kyle and an important symbol for his fans and the NASCAR
industry," RCR said in a statement. "No one can carry it forward to the level
that he did. The No. 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready
to go NASCAR racing."
Brexton, a third-generation Busch driver, began his racing career in 2020 at 5
years old in the Beginner Box Stock division at Millbridge Speedway, a 1/6-mile
dirt track in Salisbury, North Carolina, according to his website. He picked up
his first victory at Mountain Creek Speedway a month later and has built on his
racing resume since.
He won 48 races, earned 126 top-10s and 107 top-5's in multiple styles of race
cars in 2024.
In 2001, when Dale Earnhardt was killed in a crash at the Daytona 500, RCR
changed car numbers from the black No. 3 to the white No. 29. The No. 3
eventually returned for the 2014 season when owner Richard Childress' grandson
Austin Dillon took over as the driver.
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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
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