The weight Childress is carrying right now is not new. After Dale Earnhardt’s fatal crash at the 2001 Daytona 500, Childress thought of walking away from racing entirely, as he stood alone on a dock on the property of former NASCAR chairman Bill France Jr. What stopped him was the memory of a campfire conversation with Earnhardt, a mutual promise the two had made that if anything ever happened to either of them, the other would keep the team going.

But little did he know that a similarly haunting incident would take place more than two decades later. Now, he has grown old, set to turn eighty-one this September, and Kyle Busch’s sudden death has left him in the same mindset. And Kevin Harvick, who saw it all unfold in 2001, is raising one concern.

Richard Childress faces another heartbreak with Kyle Busch’s passing

“You see him standing next to Samantha and Brexton supporting them, and as bad as he hurts, he’s going to put them first. And that’s you know who Richard Childress is. He’s the guy that’s going to make sure that everybody else is taken care of before he is. And sometimes, you know, that is not the right thing to do, but that’s the way he’s going to do it. And there’s not a better person out there than Richard Childress, and unfortunately, he’s having to deal with this all again,” Harvick said on the Happy Hour podcast. 

He’s having to deal with all this again, and how he’s dealing with it is proof enough that the Busch family’s grief is felt deeply by him.

At Charlotte Motor Speedway’s pre-race tribute on May 24, Childress stood on the grid alongside Samantha, Brexton, and Lennix Busch as NASCAR CEO Steve O’Donnell addressed the crowd. It had already been announced that the #8 would be reserved for Brexton Busch whenever he is ready to go NASCAR racing.

This same decision he had made in 2001 as well, suspending the use of Earnhardt Sr.’s #3, before eventually handing it to his grandson, Austin Dillon, after a wait of thirteen years. In fact, following Dale Earnhardt’s death, Childress was so broken that Kevin Harvick – who received a late-night call to step into the renumbered No. 29 Cup Series car – will never be able to forget it. So, Harvick’s concern is well-placed.

“I’ll never forget walking in. I’ve been in Richard’s office a few times but that night was different. Richard was sitting behind his desk looked like he hadn’t slept in, you know, three days which he probably hadn’t. Kevin Hamlin had a bottle of Jack Daniels in a cup and just sitting there and he, obviously, had plenty of cups of Jack Daniels,” Harvick had revealed in a podcast with Graham Bensinger.

At that moment, Childress wasn’t focused on championships or sponsorships. He was simply trying to keep his race team alive.

“And they were just trying to figure out what they wanted to do,” Harvick said. “At that point it was really about just trying to keep the company afloat and survive and not just have the emotions of the whole situation shut the company down,” Harvick had further revealed back then.

But unlike 2001, Childress is now considerably older and has battled his own set of personal and professional issues over the years. Childress had admitted as much while discussing Brexton’s future with RCR last year, saying, “I just hope I am around 10 years from now. I am not as young as I used to be. Maybe Austin or Tyler or who the hell somebody will take over.”

Naturally, to balance grief and team responsibilities is bound to take a toll alone. His relationship with Kyle Busch was one of a kind as well, which deepens the narrative.

For years, it seemed as though Richard Childress and Kyle Busch would never be able to live together under the same NASCAR roof, much less form a race team. Their infamous 2011 garage altercation at Kansas Speedway, where Childress punched Busch, became part of NASCAR lore. But when Busch joined Richard Childress Racing in 2023, more than ten years later, the two very competitive individuals mended their bond.

And the instinct to put the Busch family ahead of his own concerns did not begin at Charlotte. It goes back to September 2022, the day Kyle signed. Childress marked the occasion by handing Brexton, then seven years old, a ceremonial contract and a crisp $100 bill, a lighthearted gesture that signaled RCR’s acknowledgment of the next Busch generation’s talent in the sport. That bill has since turned into a reserved Cup number and an open-ended promise. One could even say it carries real cost, but Childress isn’t worrying about that.

Childress’ attention is squarely towards supporting Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, and everyone inside RCR. The only thing is that this time, the man carrying that weight is much older, and many around NASCAR know just how much pain he’s probably hiding.