Our 9-year-old racer, Brexton Busch, has speed in his DNA and guidance from the champions of NASCAR. And he is making good of it. But one of the biggest learners from Brexton’s presence and being his crew chief is his dad. Yes, Kyle Busch is at the end of the line for a change, as Brexton is trying his hand at the go-karting championships. The experience is teaching him a thing or two about the challenges crew chiefs of the racing world face every day and how brutal the competition is for them.

Kyle Busch talks about it all with Randall Burnett and Brad Gillie in a recent Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen episode. We will give you the tea from the broadcast.

Kyle Busch’s lessons from being Brexton’s dad and crew chief

In the world of NASCAR, few relationships are as crucial as those between the crew chief and the driver. Imagine not having Jake Elder for David Pearson, Zippy for Smoke, or Jeff Hammond for Warrell Waltrip. The history of the game would have been different, wouldn’t it? But often, the maximum spotlight is on the driver while the crew chief holds the fort in the background. But what is it like being a crew chief? A driver turned crew chief for his son, Kyle Busch, had had the honor of switching roles and is now telling us about it.

The two-time NASCAR champion is on crew chief duties for his son Brexton Busch, who is at the brunt of yelling. He said on Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, “If it’s not right, I am getting yelled at. Dad, it’s too loose, Dad is too tight, Dad, it’s too slow. Man, I probably hit it right, maybe 10-15% of the time. The rest of the time, I am like, you gotta ride it.”

All of this is making our RCR driver understand a thing or two about the challenges faced by a crew chief and making him appreciate Randall Burnett’s job a bit more. In the chat with Gillie at Cheddar’s, he said, “Now, I know what Randall is saying. I take it in stride now. Where years ago, as dumb as I was, as fiery as I was, I didn’t take the other side sense into play. Now that I am older, I am a dad, I am a car owner, I am a crew chief, and I am a truck driver (I get it better).”

Kyle Busch races the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with Richard Childress Racing in all three NASCAR series. He is married to Samantha Busch and is the father of Brexton and Lennix. Busch held ownership of Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) from 2010 until 2023, during which time the team established itself as the most successful in Truck Series history. However, in September 2023, Spire Motorsports acquired KBM.

On the Cheddar’s show, he also explained that he understands how he doesn’t have all the traits you need to be a team and that it’s challenging — “Trying to put all of that together, and all of the different pieces of the car when you are working on the different adjustments you can make – what adjustment is the right one you can that you need to line up for the feature.”

He then went on to share a “funny” story that has teachings for both father and son. He started by explaining how stiff the competition is in the junior wing class. “We go into the final race of the year, final night, and the top three guys in the junior wing class are all basically within two or three points of one another. And it’s a show of who can qualify better than the rest and who can finish in front of the rest. It was the NASCAR Phoenix Raceway showdown.”

He said that they qualified at the pole, but Brexton Busch didn’t race very well. “So, we had to start sixth in the feature. The kid that was third in points started second. The kid that was second in points started fourth. So, we all were right there with one another. As the race went on, we got up to second. We were chasing the leader down. But halfway through the race, the car got too loose. I didn’t adjust enough for the track. So, we were too loose; we couldn’t catch the leader. But we had literally finished first, second, third. And that’s how they were one, two, three, in points at the end of the season.”

He said he was bummed out for his son and really wanted him to win the championship in the go-kart division. He said, “He is not really aging out, but he is sizing out of those cars. So he is a little bit bigger. So, we don’t have a whole lot of weight on the cars. So, next year, he wants to focus a little bit more on traveling, going, and running the micros. I was really hoping that in his final season, we could pull out a go-kart championship. But we were one spot short.”

Brexton Busch, nicknamed B-Rex, has raced in other go-kart divisions: Outlaw Karts, Bandoleros, Jr. Sprints, and Restricted Micros.

Kyle Busch is not only a two-time Cup Series champion, but he has also made it to the Championship 4 every year from 2015 to 2019. With 63 Cup wins, he has the highest number among active drivers and sits ninth on the overall wins list. Busch holds the record for the most wins in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series, where he has 102 victories, and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, with 66 wins. He also claimed the Xfinity Series championship in 2009. Overall, Busch has tallied 231 wins across all three NASCAR national series.

His impressive track record highlights his talent and success in the world of NASCAR, making him a prominent figure in racing history, but even he didn’t have the exposure that his son is having at the race tracks.

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Brexton Busch is establishing himself in the world of motorsports. He began his racing journey at the age of five in 2020, competing in the Beginner Box Stock Division at Millbridge Speedway. Just a month into his career, he achieved his first victory at Mountain Creek. Since then, he has continually improved, and this year, he secured eight feature wins in the POWRi Junior Sprint League.

What are Kyle Busch’s plans for his son Brexton Busch?

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Right now, Brexton is enjoying racing micro-sprint cars and Bandoleros. Once he’s old enough, he’s likely to move on to the CARS Tour, which could lead him to the Truck Series. His good buddy, Jeff Dickerson at Spire Motorsports, might even give Brexton his first shot at competing in the National Series.

Kyle Busch shed some light on his son’s career focus, speaking in an interview with Jeff Gluck, said, “I want to keep him on the dirt and asphalt realm; I don’t feel like you should go one way or the other. I like what we’re doing right now. He gets in his Bandolero car, and he knows what he’s got to do on the pavement; he gets into his dirt car, and he knows what he’s got to do on dirt. So I really like that. We’ll probably stick with some of that mixture. And then by 16, he’ll be ready for some Trucks.”

Kyle Busch is excited about the idea of racing with his son in the Craftsman Truck Series when he turns 18. Even though that’s still almost ten years away, Busch is focused on helping his son improve his racing skills right now. Brexton comes from a family that loves racing, so he has plenty of great examples to look up to. His grandpa Tom and uncle Kurt are both well-known racers. Tom Busch was a mechanic at a Ford dealership and also sold tools, and he inspired his sons, Kyle and Kurt, to get into racing.

“We’ve got a ‘dynasty’ that worked out for him, and hopefully, he can get to the NASCAR big leagues as he gets a little bit older,” Busch said. “But he’s racing a lot. He’s winning a lot. He’s having fun a lot. So it feels really good to continue on his passion.”

Even though Brexton is still young, he’s already showing the signs of a great Busch driver.