As hard as Kyle Busch’s passing has been on the racing community, it’s impossible to imagine the grief his family is enduring. Kurt, Samantha, Lennix, and Brexton Busch were trackside at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Sunday as a moment of silence was held in honor of Rowdy. Samantha was overcome with emotion, while Brexton stepped up to comfort his mother, who had just lost her whole world.

NASCAR insider comments on how strong Brexton Busch was at the Coca-Cola 600

At the Coca-Cola 600, the visuals of a young Brexton wrapping his arms around his mom were heartbreaking and showed a level of strength far beyond his years. No one would have blamed him for breaking down, too, but he held himself together for his mother and his family.

In light of this, NASCAR insider Mamba Smith lauded the young man.

“I think about watching Brexton console his mom. An 11-year-old boy became a man in a moment. Now, he is consoling his mom,” he said on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour.

“He’s the man of the house, and I think that’s incredibly difficult. For them to even show up, I was shocked, just because I don’t know how I would be in that situation. If I wanted to be at the race track, but that is where the family is, that is our family, our home, we all do stuff together.

“Obviously, we’re thinking about them. There’s a generation of millennials like myself that we remember Dale and what happened. We were all very young, and to see this happen again in a similar manner is very eerie to me,” Smith said.

The Coca-Cola 600 is one of NASCAR’s biggest events, but this year, the tributes to Busch understandably took center stage. Many in the sport, including Smith, compared the emotions surrounding the weekend to the aftermath of Dale Earnhardt’s death at the 2001 Daytona 500, and the way Dale Earnhardt Jr. honored his father months later by winning at the same track.

Brexton, already making strides in junior racing categories across the country, may someday hope to honor his father in a similar way if he reaches the Cup Series. For now, however, he has been thrust into a situation that could force him to grow up far sooner than any child should.

Brexton poised to carry forward Kyle Busch’s legacy in NASCAR

The Coca-Cola 600 last weekend, in a rather grim way, marked the beginning of a new era in the sport. It was the first race since 1979 to feature neither an Earnhardt nor a Busch. And for a while, every race across the top three national series will follow suit.

Richard Childress Racing also confirmed that they will temporarily retire the No. 8 in Kyle’s honor. Instead, they will run the No. 33, likely for the rest of the season and possibly beyond. Austin Hill piloted the car last weekend at Charlotte, and he could return. Or the team may rotate him with Jesse Love.

That’s until Brexton makes it to the big leagues. Despite his young age, he has already built an impressive CV, winning the 2024 Beginner Box Stock championship at Millbridge Speedway and multiple Bandolero races, while also making waves in junior dirt racing categories across the country. In 2025, he also won his first Golden Driller in the Junior Sprint division.

RCR declared that when the talented racer comes of age and begins his Cup Series career, #8 will be his. “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,” a statement released by the team read.

There are still a few years left (at least seven or eight) until we see Brexton make his way into the NASCAR garage, provided he chooses to. But there wouldn’t be a dry eye around if he does get there. The Busch name will return, and Rowdy will look down from the heavens, proud of the young man he raised.