Are there any emotions watching Spire Motorsports rebrand KBM? That was the question to Kyle Busch after finalizing the sale of the racing home he’d built from the ground up. His answer? “The ink hasn’t even dried, and the money didn’t even clear in the bank, and the sign out front was changed. I was like, ‘Damn, guys! Get out of here. We’ve still got five more days!’” But as those five days ticked down to one, that goodbye to KBM meant relocating his entire car collection and trophy cabinet. Since then, no one has known where their new home is. Until now.
The NASCAR community has seen multiple teams and drivers announce their throwback schemes for the Darlington weekend. As for Busch, the RCR team couldn’t give him a cool-looking scheme to run this weekend. Taking matters into his own hands, Busch decided to keep up with the tradition and gave a sneak peek into his collection from the KBM race shop – the relocation of which was their “off-season project” – whose whereabouts were highly debated.
Kyle Busch celebrated Throwback Weekend in a unique way
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In a video on Instagram, Busch said, “I’ve heard a lot of requests about, ‘Hey, what did you do with your car collection? Where’s all your race cars, everything with KBM being moved out of there? Where did it go?’ Well, here we are today. I’ll show you what we got.” The camera then panned to many fans’ delight and nostalgia, showcasing three-level lifts for all of Busch’s cool and collector cars. It also gave the RCR driver a chance to do something he’d never done before. At least, not at KBM.
During his interview at the 2023 NASCAR Awards, Busch mentioned how people have asked him, “Have you ever looked at your trophies and just thought about what’s happened over the years?” Although his answer was “No” back then, that’s changed now, owing to this trip down memory lane, where he also explained the story behind his memorable 2010 NASCAR season, when he won all three races in the Cup, Xfinity, and Truck Series.
Directing his attention to the three cars stacked one below the other – the same ones responsible for that history-making feat – Busch revealed why the controversial Xfinity race win in the No. 18 JGR car was even more special for him. “Cool thing about this Xfinity car is that it is also a championship-winning car from Homestead the year before. So really cool to win the championship in 2009 in that car and then be able to repeat the win again in 2010 at Bristol.”
However, he couldn’t provide a glimpse of the iconic Double Mint Camry, which was placed on the topmost shelf. “And then, of course, up top, hard to see because they are so high and parked up there tight, but that’s the Cup Series Bristol winner car, the Double Mint car. So, really cool to have all of those right here still together, intact,” he concluded.
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That Double Mint Camry helped Busch create history on August 21, 2010, capping off a week made for the record books. After NASCAR started running three national series in 1995, Busch became the first driver to win all three in the span of 72 hours! After a win in the truck series, the KBM founder clinched a controversial victory in the Nationwide race after a tangle with Brad Keselowski – a series of incidents that led to the infamous “Kyle Busch is an a**” remark by Keselowski during driver introductions on Saturday.
After fighting for the lead for over 10 laps, the two made contact, which forced Busch to scrape the wall and lose places. But he recovered, went right behind Keselowski’s bumper, and wrecked him. While the then-JGR driver went on to win the race, Keselowski vowed to take revenge. But on Saturday, besides his comment, he didn’t really get a chance to trouble Busch, whose #18 Toyota cruised to victory while also scripting history.
Despite KBM’s takeover by Spire, Kyle Busch has maintained a partnership with them, which has seen success in the Truck Series events.
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Winning with Spire has been bittersweet for ‘Rowdy’
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The 2024 Cup Series season has been a roller coaster ride for ‘Rowdy.’ After the hiccups of the first season, it was believed that this year would be a big turning point for both RCR and the driver in competing for wins, but that hasn’t been the case. In his 12 starts in this campaign, he hasn’t been able to get into the victory lane. Luckily, he hasn’t lost his winning touch, which is quite visible from his runs in the Truck Series.
Busch has the record for the most wins (66) in the NASCAR Truck Series, providing much-needed joy in 2024. In the very first race at Atlanta, he secured the first win of the year and later repeated the feat at Kansas Speedway, driving the No. 7 Chevy Silverado truck. Establishing his relationship with Spire and acknowledging them, Busch said, “Even before I was an owner, I always enjoyed racing in the Truck Series, so I’m thankful to Jeff [Dickerson], T.J. [Puchyr] and everyone at Spire Motorsports for the opportunity to compete in the five races that I’m allowed to do each season.”
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He further mentioned that post the $14.5 million sale of KBM, joining Spire has been sort of bittersweet. Revealing how several KBM employees now work for Spire, he’s been working with the same crew chief and team as last year. However, considering the number and name on the truck are not the ones he’s used to, that’s probably what stings Busch once in a while.
This shows how race equipment and team environment play a huge role in drivers delivering the desired results. At the moment, while the Spire camp may be giving Bush that, his Cup team isn’t.