Richard Childress Racing's No. 8 ran on a Cup car again on Oct. 9 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, for about as long as it takes to destroy a set of tires, and the driver was 11 years old.
Brexton Busch started his late father's No. 8 Lucas Oil Chevrolet, waved to the grandstand and lit up the rear tires near pit entry until there was little Goodyear left. NASCAR.com's account says he then climbed onto the roof, took a checkered flag from his 4-year-old sister, Lennix, and gave the crowd Kyle Busch's post-win bow before jumping down to hug his mother and sister. It was the first time Brexton had publicly driven a Cup car, according to the same report.
That number had been off the Cup grid since May 22. The day after Busch died, RCR announced it would suspend the No. 8 and enter the car as the No. 33, saying the 8 was "reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing." The team's statement credited Busch with helping design RCR's stylized 8.
Busch was 41. The joint statement from his family, RCR and NASCAR on May 21 called the death sudden and gave no cause. Two days later the family said severe pneumonia had progressed into sepsis.
The program
The celebration began around 8 p.m. at the start/finish line, after Layne Riggs won the Craftsman Truck Series race, and was free to anyone at the track. WBTV reported thousands of fans stayed, and that they were handed Busch flags and rally towels. FS1 carried it live, NASCAR on FOX's Mike Joy hosted, and ten of Busch's cars were parked on display. It followed months of smaller gestures, from an empty chair at Daytona to Rowdy Road at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kurt Busch, who recently bought back his 2000 Roush race truck at Mecum Nashville, opened. "I knew he was going to be fast," he said, per WBTV, describing a younger brother who wanted to do everything "bigger, better and faster than me."
Joe Gibbs, whose No. 18 Toyota Busch drove from 2008 through 2022 to two Cup titles and 56 wins, spoke, as did three drivers who came through Kyle Busch Motorsports' truck program: Daniel Suárez, Noah Gragson and Christopher Bell. Kyle Larson, the defending Cup champion, said Busch called him "Tiny Kyle" and later asked him to help coach Brexton on dirt.
Austin Dillon, Busch's teammate at RCR, kept his short: "Trophies collect dust. Records are meant to be broken."
Samantha Busch said her husband was happy at home through the winless last stretch of his Cup career, and told the grandstand, "This is not the end of Kyle's story." Country singer Cole Swindell played an acoustic set. A drone show drew the No. 18 and the number 234, Busch's win total across NASCAR's three national series, over the track where he won more than any other driver.
Richard Childress was there; NASCAR's photo gallery shows him watching. He wasn't on the speaker list, and nobody announced anything about the car his team holds for Brexton. NASCAR's coverage doesn't say whether the Chevrolet Brexton drove was a race chassis or a show car.
Where the No. 8 goes
Nowhere in 2027, on RCR's own paperwork. On Aug. 24 the team named Austin Hill full-time driver of the No. 33 for next season, the car he has driven since the Coca-Cola 600. The renumbered entry is now a fixture, not a fill-in.
Childress went further at Michigan in June. He said the No. 8 is reserved for Brexton if he reaches the Cup Series, whether or not he drives for RCR, and that the team had planned to announce a contract extension for Busch before he died. "That kid can drive a race car," Childress said.
Neither RCR nor NASCAR has put a date on any of it, and the rulebook sets its own clock. When NASCAR lowered the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series minimum age last November, it landed at 17 for road courses and shorter ovals and 18 for the big ones. Brexton is about six years from the first of those, and the Cup Series sits a rung above that.
The next public stop is the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where the "Kyle Busch: Honoring A Legacy" exhibit is built around his 2015 championship No. 18 Camry. Samantha, Brexton and Lennix posed with that car at the unveiling. The Hall hasn't said how long the exhibit will stay up.
Should RCR leave the No. 8 parked for however many years it takes Brexton to get there, or put it back on a race car before then?
Sources: Busch family, RCR and NASCAR joint statement (May 21, 2026); RCR No. 8/No. 33 announcement (May 22, 2026); Richard Childress press conference at Michigan (June 6, 2026); RCR Austin Hill announcement (Aug. 24, 2026); NASCAR celebration of life announcement (Oct. 2, 2026), event report, video and photo gallery (Oct. 9 and 10, 2026); NASCAR O'Reilly Series eligibility rule change (Nov. 1, 2025); WBTV.
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