In March 2025, racing fans witnessed a historic moment as Kyle Busch and his son, Brexton, competed head-to-head for the first time at Millbridge Speedway in Salisbury, North Carolina. Both drivers showcased their skills in the 600cc Winged Micro Sprint class, with Kyle qualifying third and Brexton seventh. In the 20-lap feature, Kyle secured a third-place finish, while Brexton impressively finished sixth, just behind his father. This marked a significant milestone in the Busch family’s racing legacy, amidst tough times for Kyle in the Cup Series currently. But that won’t stop Brexton from eyeing his own revenge arc for his Round 1 defeat.

Despite his extensive experience and two Cup championships, Kyle Busch did not secure a playoff berth in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, marking his second straight playoff-less season. But while navigating these challenges, Kyle remains supportive of son Brexton’s racing ambitions. He once said, “When he [Brexton] turns 13 or 14, I believe he’s then old enough for like the Super Late Models [on pavement] or like the World of Outlaws Late Model tour or Lucas Oil Late Model tour for the dirt world,” with exciting announcements yet to come. And now, the wait is finally over.

Time for Round 2 in the Kyle Busch and Co. racing dynasty

In a post on X, Kyle Busch finally revealed the long-awaited announcement, writing, “I won Round 1 but @brextonbusch wants another chance. This time on my home turf! @SERVPRO Battle of the Busch’s Round 2👊🏻 November 6th – 8th, The Bullring at @LVMotorSpeedway.🔥” The father-son duo will now face each other in Legends cars for Round 2 at Las Vegas on 8th November, 2025, where both pride and racing legacy will be on the line.

In the video shared along with the post, Brexton is seen openly challenging his father, saying, “I think it’ll be a good race,” and on being asked if he could compete fiercely with Kyle this time, he replied confidently, “If it was for the win, yeah.” 

Earlier this week, Busch even teased the announcement on a post on X, stating, “Sometimes the old dawg’s gotta teach the new dawg some new tricks… Announcement at 18:51 (ET) tomorrow.” The excitement follows Brexton’s first-ever win in the Junior Sprint “Golden Driller” Championship at the Tulsa Shootout in early 2025. He also won the Bandolero race opening night race of the 2025 Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway, driving his No. 18 car on the quarter-mile frontstretch. However, the anticipation for the announcement had been building for weeks, keeping fans and analysts on their toes about what to expect next.

Ahead of the Darlington race in August, Kyle Busch was asked whether Brexton’s early success helped distract him from the challenges his team is facing in the Cup Series. Busch didn’t sugarcoat it, saying, “You just do what you got to do, right? I mean, my number one focus has got to be Sunday [Darlington Raceway] and that’s giving everything that I can and making sure that I’m there with the team and going through all the things to make sure that we’re heading in the right direction or trying to do the right things as I think.”

He had been vocal about Richard Childress Racing‘s struggles with Next-Gen car performance, missing wins, and balancing resource constraints ahead of the playoffs. Still, Busch acknowledged limits to how much he can personally fix under the hood. “But again, I’m no engineer. I don’t know all the nuances of this car. I figured out a few over the last few years, but it’s not as much as I once knew that I could set up the old cars,” he said. But that conversation turned to family rivalry, as Busch’s hopes for the Championship 4 have now been shattered by a stretch of tough results.

When asked if he envisioned more of “Busch vs Busch” in reference to his son, Brexton, Kyle confirmed, “Eventually, yeah.” He followed that promise with a tease: “We got an announcement coming, hold on, hold tight.” That followed a build-up through Brexton’s performance in Legends cars in the 2025 season. His wins in the summer shootout series, impressive results at Hickory, and other races have made the 10-year-old competitive enough to beat his father and compete with industry greats with the intention to win. But for now, the pressure keeps mounting on Busch and RCR.

Can Kyle Busch adapt before it’s too late?

In a season filled with twists, Kyle Busch’s ongoing slump on NASCAR’s oval tracks has become one of the sport’s loudest storylines. After more than 80 races without a win on a traditional oval, his aggressive style has shifted from an advantage to a liability, with his last top-five coming at the 2024 Souther 500. Kevin Harvick summed up the core issue bluntly, saying, “Everything that made Kyle Busch good up until this Gen-7 car was the fact that he could drive it over the limit, save the car, and he could tell you every single thing that you needed to put in the car to make it go fast.”

Busch’s flashes of brilliance in 2025 have surfaced on road and street courses, like his fifth-place finishes at COTA and the Chicago Street Course, where his adaptability and feedback helped maximize strategy. “He knew the springs, he knew the shocks, he knew everything that was going on, not gonna happen in Gen-7 racing,” Harvick continued. Leading 42 laps at COTA and qualifying sixth at Chicago proves the talent remains, but the disconnect on ovals has left him fighting to stay inside the top 15 at tracks like Bristol, Atlanta, and Richmond.

The frustration runs deeper inside RCR. While Busch continues to praise the effort behind the No. 8 car, he admitted, “It is not due to lack of effort, that’s for damn sure…everybody at RCR…working as hard as they can…but the car just hasn’t matched the velocity needed.” 

Crew chief Randall Burnett has echoed those struggles, pointing to setup and aero challenges as RCR lags behind Hendrick Motorsports and other Chevrolet teams. Will the 2026 season finally become the proving ground for RCR and Kyle Busch?