When Kyle Busch founded Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) in 2010, the move immediately shifted the dynamics of the NASCAR Truck Series. Right from its debut year, KBM captured the owners’ championship in the NASCAR Camping World Truck (now Craftsman Truck) Series. KBM secured 100 victories in Truck Series events, with Kyle Busch himself behind the wheel for 48 of those wins. As a Toyota Racing Development-backed outfit, KBM quickly became a pipeline for emerging stars, most notably Erik Jones (2015 Truck Series champion) and Christopher Bell (2017 champion).
Beyond wins and championships, KBM established itself as a top-tier driver‑development machine. From its first full-time season, the team consistently fielded multiple trucks and drivers, combining owner‑driver appearances with opportunities for rookies and Toyota prospects. KBM’s success became synonymous with elevating careers: William Byron, Harrison Burton, John Hunter Nemechek, and others earned key wins and early breaks driving KBM trucks. Now, in a similarly bold move following that blueprint, another 17‑year‑old Toyota‑backed prodigy is preparing to do exactly that.
Echoes of Kyle Busch’s legacy
A new report from Jayski via X on August 1, 2025, has confirmed that 17-year-old Brent Crews, one of Toyota’s current development prospects, is preparing to launch his own NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team: Brent Crews Motorsports. The team is slated to make its debut at Watkins Glen International on Friday, August 8, with Crews himself behind the wheel of the No. 70 Toyota, backed by Pristine Auction as the primary sponsor.
“I grew up going to dinner on race weekends with guys like Nick Tucker and Brian Keselowski, listening to stories about building race cars and engines out of spare parts and barely getting to the track,” Crews said. “Even though everyone would tell them they were crazy, it always sounded like so much fun to me.”
To raise funding, he sold off his micro sprints and secured returning support from Pristine Auction, a sponsor that was also on his car during his National Midget win at age 12, where he became the youngest winner in the series’ history. “When we started talking about me buying a truck to run Watkins Glen, no one was willing to tell me it was a bad idea and it just kind of snowballed from there,” he said. “I sold all my micro sprints to raise some of the money and here we are.”
Brent Crews has announced the formation of his own NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team, Brent Crews Motorsports, which is set to make its official debut at Watkins Glen International on Friday, August 8 and run select races thereafter. https://t.co/ungtnQGwUy
— Jayski (@jayski) August 1, 2025
The launch of Brent Crews Motorsports reflects a larger vision. The Mooresville-based team is being positioned as a driver-led organization, with young racers Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch, and Jack Baldwin also part of the executive structure, aiming to introduce a younger, performance-driven approach to team leadership. The operation will temporarily run out of the Nitro Motorsports Trans-Am facility.
Crews has made a name for himself across multiple platforms this year. He earned victories in the ARCA Menards Series at Phoenix, Rockingham, and IRP while racing part-time for Joe Gibbs Racing, and has recorded competitive runs with TRICON Garage in the Truck Series, including a top-10 at Lime Rock. Watkins Glen, where Brent Crews was awarded a win in the Trans Am TA2 Series after post-race disqualifications, is a strategic choice for his Truck Series debut, especially as NASCAR’s road course trend continues to surge. “I don’t really know where this is going to go, but with all the buzz around road course guys right now, it didn’t seem right to miss Watkins Glen. I love the track. I have a win there. I don’t know what to expect from our team, but I will give it everything I’ve got. Watching on TV was not an option.”
As the No. 70 Toyota gets ready to roll out, Crews’ decision echoes the spirit of Kyle Busch’s early days as a team owner but this time, the stakes are higher, the driver is younger, and the path ahead is wide open. Whether Brent Crews can replicate the kind of long-term impact KBM left behind is still uncertain but the wheels are already in motion.
Can the new generation lead from the front?
Kyle Busch wasn’t the only one who cracked the code of blending racing with ownership, Tyler Young did it back in 2012, establishing Young’s Motorsports as a development force across Trucks and Xfinity. That model’s strength is now echoed by Corey Heim, a 22-year-old road course threat in Trucks, whose consistent crew and stable chemistry prove that young talent can thrive when supported by smart, driver-led systems. These success stories are less about anomalies and more about a larger shift: ownership from within the cockpit is reshaping the feeder levels of NASCAR.
Now the spotlight’s on Brent Crews. At just 17, he’s following a path once carved by names like Tony Stewart, who transformed Haas CNC Racing into Stewart-Haas Racing, and Brad Keselowski, who built talent pipelines through his own Xfinity and Truck Series teams before becoming co-owner of RFK Racing. Todd Gilliland now leads Tricon Garage while still racing. Crews enters with strong momentum: ARCA victories, backing from Pristine Auction, and support from Toyota’s development pipeline. But balancing team ownership while building a driving career is a high-pressure challenge. The question isn’t just whether he’ll succeed, but whether he can define youth-led ownership for the next decade.
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