Last July, Kyle Busch looked like a man stuck in neutral. The wins had dried up. The speed wasn’t there. His frustration with Richard Childress Racing was no secret. After a blistering 2023 debut that gave him three wins, the 2024 season hit like a wall. By season’s end, Kyle Busch had suffered something almost unthinkable—he went winless. The streak was over. Nineteen straight seasons with at least one Cup Series victory snapped. That kind of drought hits different when you’ve built your legacy on winning. He now sits on the edge of a 70-race winless stretch, and NASCAR fans have been counting. For someone with 63 Cup wins, that number casts a long shadow. For the first time in his career, doubt crept in. Would he leave RCR? And where would he go? Well, Rowdy has just settled that debate.
The deal is done. Richard Childress Racing and Kyle Busch have agreed to extend their partnership, keeping the two-time Cup Series champion in the No. 8 Chevrolet through 2026. The announcement came with full confidence from team owner Richard Childress, who said, “We’re proud to continue our relationship with Kyle Busch and remain focused on our shared goals of winning races and championships together. Kyle is a tremendous racer and ambassador of the sport for our fans and partners. Everyone at RCR is committed to putting the pieces in place to enhance the competition side of our business.”
For RCR, this is more than a contract, it’s a statement of faith in one of NASCAR’s most polarizing talents. And about the question of retirement? Busch put an end to it with a firm, “No, not at all.“
For Busch, it’s a commitment to finish the job he started in 2023. So far in 2025, Busch and his No.8 team have shown signs of life. He’s secured multiple top 10 finishes and led laps at key tracks like Circuit of The Americas, where he led 42 laps and finished fifth. His current position in the standings, 17th, doesn’t fully reflect the renewed pace RCR has found in recent races. The pieces are starting to fit, and the team’s decision to back Busch now speaks to its belief in what he still has left in the tank.
And we rewind and listen to Rowdy, it gets real. Busch admitted it : “It’s been so dismal and so heartbreaking that I have a hard time dealing with enough stuff in my life that every Sunday to keep adding to it is getting harder and harder to deal with.” You could feel the toll on his voice. Busch could only push forward. “Just gotta keep going on in the next week and keep fighting on… and try to score a win,” he had said last year. But for Busch, the deal is a fresh breath.
As Busch put it: “It’s an honor to race for Richard Childress, our partners, and team Chevy fans. I feel like my family, and I have found a home at RCR, and it means a lot that Richard continues to put his trust into me. My chapter at RCR is not yet complete, and I know we are building something special here. I remain focused on adding more wins and a championship to our collective resumes.” Childress echoed that optimism, highlighting the ongoing investments RCR is making.
From personnel to equipment, the organization is aligning around Busch’s championship vision. “Everyone at RCR is committed to putting the pieces in place to enhance the competition side of our business,” Childress said. Notably, this deal also highlighted that Austin Dillon will continue through 2026. This now stabilizes the RCR driver line-up as they look to improve on the newfound pace.
You could hear the excitement from Childress when he said, “You know, Kyle has been great to work with. Everybody had questions going in. I love a driver that (doesn’t) like to lose, and we’ve worked hard. We’ve got some exciting things coming up. He and I are both alike in one area that we don’t like to lose; we want to win races. I still think that Kyle will win him a championship, and we want it to happen at RCR and that’s our plans. We got a lot of new things coming. This car is a lot different. It’s so engineer-driven that we’re stepping our engineering up more, and I’m excited about the future.”
And the respect goes both ways. Busch responded with, “I give a lot of credit to Richard and him believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be able to come over here and have a chance to drive his car. So for me, rewarding him with that and having the success on the race track is paramount.”
Notably, Kyle Busch’s journey has been a rollercoaster. From Rookie of the Year honors with Hendrick Motorsports in 2005 to two Cup Series championships with Joe Gibbs Racing, his career has always leaned toward greatness. But greatness comes with expectation. And lately, he’s been chasing shadows of his former self. He hasn’t tasted victory since early 2023 and missed the playoffs in 2024, ending his long-standing win streak.
This deal comes after rumors suggested that Busch was testing the waters with other teams. At age 39, he’s no longer the young hotshot. If he wants to hit his goal of 70 career wins, he needs to start winning again, and fast. Busch has always been a driven competitor, and his legacy isn’t complete yet. The decision to re-sign with RCR suggests he believes the best chance to finish strong lies with this team. Now with Busch and William Byron locked in for the 2026 season, only Denny Hamlin and Daniel Suarez remain free agents.
How Brexton influenced the new Busch!
Kyle Busch isn’t just a Cup Series champion anymore. He’s also a racing dad. And his son, Brexton, is having a bigger influence than fans may realize. In a recent podcast with Denny Hamlin, Busch admitted that watching Brexton race has changed how he thinks, and drives. “I think Brexton racing and my messages that I’m trying to deliver to him, I’m now taking more sense in of understanding. Like, I can’t do something this way when I’m trying to teach him that way.” In short, he’s practicing what he preaches. Less aggression. More focus. Cleaner racing.
That shift is visible on track. Busch, who once thrived on emotion and risk, is becoming more calculated. He’s racing to win, yes, but he’s also racing to set an example. Sometimes, Brexton is the one keeping him in check. That grounding force is helping Rowdy mature into a different kind of driver, one who still has the hunger, but with a new lens. Brexton’s win at the 2025 Tulsa Shootout and their battles at Millbridge Speedway show how deep the family passion runs.
Kyle now races with more purpose. His eyes may still be on the checkered flag, but his heart is also watching the next generation. Earlier, in March this year, for the first time he raced his 10-YO son on track and ended ahead of him in a 20-car field. He is now looking at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte this Sunday ahead of his participation in the inaugural Memorial Day Clash for Super Late Models at Oxford Plains Speedway on May 27.
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