“I drew Trackhouse Motorplex without looking. Safe to say I know the track pretty well! Excited for my first race there in a kart this weekend!!” A super-confident Brexton Busch, Kyle Busch’s 9-year-old son had said in an Instagram post ahead of his karting debut. To support his claim, the youngster had also posted his drawing next to the actual course track layout. As the son of Kyle Busch, one of NASCAR’s all-time greats, and with a championship pedigree that extends to Uncle Kurt Busch and even grandfather Tom Busch, the confidence is quite but natural. But remember what Ayrton Senna had said describing his love for karting?

“It’s the most breathtaking sport in the world. More than F1,” the 41-time Grand Prix winner had said. Indeed, young Brexton got a feel that karting is easier said than done. Despite his rich racing lineage, the debut race ended on a disastrous note for him as he finished last. And who was there to soothe him? None other than his ever-supportive mom, Samantha Busch, with a touching message.

Karting is a new chapter for Brexton, a transition his parents see as critical to developing the skills modern NASCAR demands. But the road to progress is never easy. Brexton’s first karting outing left him visibly frustrated which Samantha Busch documented and addressed in a candid Instagram story, providing a window into the learning curve her son is navigating.

“Yesterday was quite a learning experience for Brexton,” Samantha said. “He left the track quite frustrated, but we tried to tell him he just started doing this. It was his first race. You cut off your time every single time you went out of the track, and that’s all you really need to be doing when you first start.” It was only natural for Brexton to take time to get used to open-wheel racing. Compared to the world of NASCAR, karting features much faster cornering speed because these karts have a higher downforce.

For Brexton, the frustration came from setting high expectations. According to Samantha, he believed he should be finishing in the top five, but the day didn’t align with those ambitions. She also touched on the broader challenges young athletes face: “A half of the battle with kids and all sports is just that mental toughness of learning and knowing that it’s gonna take a lot to learn something new.” Her words rang true immediately after, as Busch dropped an update on Brexton’s progress. In a latter race, after starting 16th, Brexton managed to make up ground and finished in 12th place.

“Happy off-season! Brexton is going to try karting for the first time today,” Samantha shared earlier in the week when the family embarked on this next step. For Kyle Busch, this isn’t just a one-off experiment; it’s part of a calculated strategy to prepare Brexton for the sport’s evolving demands, especially with more road course events now part of the NASCAR schedule.

The path Kyle Busch envisions for Brexton includes Late Model Stock and Super Late Model racing at age 14, eventually leading to the Truck Series at 16. Kyle Busch’s commitment even extends to his retirement plans, tied directly to Brexton’s progression.

“In a perfect world, I would retire from Cup Racing when Brexton is 15 years old,” Kyle Busch shared in 2023. “When Brexton turns 16, him and I can split that truck where he can run the shorter track races, and I can run the bigger track races.” However, one might think, how is karting going to help Brexton Busch in his journey to NASCAR? Isn’t karting an open-wheeled motorsport?

Kyle Busch has a long road planned for his son

Brexton’s journey might still be in its infancy, but the surrounding framework is anything but casual. His father, Kyle Busch, has mapped out a detailed plan to guide Brexton through the ranks, combining lessons from dirt track racing with the intricacies of road courses and, eventually, NASCAR. Brexton has already found success in the dirt, winning the Micro Sprint championship at Millbridge Speedway in October. However, Kyle Busch acknowledges that mastering asphalt and road course techniques is crucial in today’s NASCAR landscape.

More importantly, karting has some important lessons for the young driver. Although there is a stark difference between karting and stock racing, it provides an important training ground, especially for the physical conditions of a race. Racers often associate driving high-speed karts with the feeling of being in the cockpit of a fighter plane. Because of the high-speed turns a kart can perform, the G-forces acting on the racer are much higher. It gives a driver the necessary resilience to keep up with the grueling experience of driving a race car for hours and prepares their body.

NASCAR insider Jeff Gluck understood its significance when William Byron put him in one of the high-powered karts. Gluck, who had different opinions on karting, suddenly found himself under immense physical duress, as he understood why karting was a preparatory stage for racing. Writing about his experience, Gluck explained, “Five minutes pass, and I can’t wait for the session to end. I have the stamina to do this for about two minutes before I started getting tired. My hands and wrists ache from holding the wheel. My foot can’t stay consistently on the throttle because I’ve got some shaky legs.”

Brexton’s karting debut might not have ended with a trophy, but the lessons learned—about perseverance, mental toughness, and incremental improvement—will undoubtedly shape his future. As his parents guide him through the highs and lows of racing, one thing is clear: the next chapter in the Busch family’s racing dynasty is just getting started.