Richard Childress stood silently next to Samantha and Brexton Busch during the heartfelt memorial service at Charlotte Motor Speedway following the unexpected death of Kyle Busch, clearly bearing the burden of yet another terrible loss in his racing family. However, in the midst of this sorrow, a sentimental choice related to Busch’s legacy has unexpectedly spurred a discussion within the NASCAR community.

“I felt bad for that kid. It’s like he just lost his dad and now he has to become a race car driver. Maybe he wanted to anyway. But still I thought that was a really odd thing to say, just retire his number. And then we’ll deal with the other part down the line,” sports radio host Marc Fellhauer responded to Richard Childress Racing’s emotional choice in the wake of Kyle Busch’s passing on the Drew Lane Show recently.

Within hours of Kyle Busch’s passing, Richard Childress Racing announced it would suspend use of the No. 8 entirely, reserving it for Brexton Busch when he is ready to go NASCAR racing. Beginning with the Coca-Cola 600, the team transitioned to the No. 33, with Austin Hill stepping into the ride.

The stylized No. 8 had grown to be closely associated with Kyle Busch’s personality, his fan base, and his influence on the sport. So, Childress was simply making a heartfelt homage. But Fellhauer’s concern centered around Brexton himself.

At just 11 years old, Brexton is still grieving the loss of his father, and some believe publicly tying NASCAR expectations to him this early could unintentionally create enormous emotional pressure.

The comparison to Dale Earnhardt’s death in 2001 is the one that naturally comes here, and it is also from where another point of criticism rises. When Earnhardt died at Daytona, Childress pulled the No. 3 and held it for over a decade before eventually handing it to his grandson, Austin Dillon, in 2014.

But Dillon was 23 when he took the wheel of the No. 3, having already won two development championships. He was a consenting adult who had earned the right, on his own terms, over years of competition. Yet, even then, the pressure was documented and heavy.

At his 2018 Daytona 500 win, Dillon said, “My grandfather has done everything for me and everybody knows it. There’s a lot of pressure on me to perform because I’ve had a little bit of everything. But I like that pressure, the same with the No. 3, there’s a lot of pressure behind it, but I’m willing to take it and go with it.” Even Childress, when he brought back the No. 3, said: “I wanted to bring it back but it had to be something special.”

And then there is Dale Earnhardt Jr., and what he has said about such pressure over the years is instructive. “I was somehow adversely affected by his success,” Junior said of carrying the Earnhardt name. “Not everything is a bed of roses.”

If even drivers beyond the age of twenty-five bent under it, then how could an eleven-year-old not? At the same time, though, racing was undeniably something Kyle himself envisioned for his son.

Through grassroots racing, Kyle Busch had actively mentored Brexton for years, teaching him racecraft, composure, and how to deal with disappointments on the track. He regularly accompanied him to races and talked candidly about his aspirations to compete in NASCAR with (or even against) his son in the future.

“There’s kind of a vision, a plan if you will, on being able to race in some Truck races, with Brexton, alongside him,” Busch said last year at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Obviously it’s six years from now until he can make that start. That would be an idea when I would look at stepping aside from Cup Series racing. But that’s a long ways out.”

Brexton’s emotional tribute to Kyle

Brexton Busch quietly gave one of the most heartfelt tributes possible, only one day after his father passed away. Brexton updated the profile pictures on both his Instagram and Facebook accounts to a photo of himself hugging his father following Kyle’s Truck Series victory at Echo Park Speedway earlier this year.

The image came from February 21 after Busch captured the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Fr8 Racing 208 in Atlanta, Georgia. “No. 68🏁 Pumped that @brextonbusch finally got to be here, I know this one means a LOT to him!” Busch had written in the original Instagram caption.

For NASCAR fans, the photo now has a completely different significance. Fans’ passionate reactions instantly filled social media, with many considering Brexton as a potential successor to the Busch family’s racing heritage, calling him the next Dale Earnhardt.

Brexton is also now being praised for the strength he showed during Busch’s memorial at the Coca-Cola 600, as he remained poised enough.