Three summers ago, Kyle Busch discussed his ideal NASCAR retirement season, noting that he wanted to split a Kyle Busch Motorsports ride in the Craftsman Truck Series with his son Brexton once Brexton turns 16 and do so until Brexton is old enough to run the full schedule.
While he still wants to see Brexton carry on the Busch dynasty in NASCAR, things partially changed shortly thereafter, when Busch completely sold his Truck Series organization to Spire Motorsports.
But Busch, the all-time winningest driver in Truck Series history, continues to compete in the series each year in as many races as he's allowed to, and he has unsurprisingly done so for Spire Motorsports since 2024.
The Truck Series limit, which is now eight races per year for full-time Cup drivers with at least three years of Cup experience, had been five races up until this past offseason, and it was actually known as the "Kyle Busch rule", given how often Busch used to compete in both the Truck Series and the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series.
In fact, he won the 2009 O'Reilly Series (then Nationwide Series) championship, despite running full-time at the Cup level, since he was allowed to run full-time and score points in both at the time.
Yet it's that championship at NASCAR's second highest level which had the two-time Cup champion envisioning potentially becoming the first driver to win a championship in all three NASCAR national series.
Kyle Busch to the NASCAR Truck Series?
Despite having 69 Truck wins, 18 more than second-place Ron Hornaday Jr., he has never run full-time in the series. He did run more than half the schedule each year from 2008 to 2011, and he racked up 24 wins during that stretch. Only three other drivers have more than 24 career series wins.
Brexton's Busch 11th birthday is today, so we are still five years away from him being eligible to run a partial Truck Series schedule. But Kyle is a pending free agent after the 2026 season, and given his and Richard Childress Racing's ongoing struggles at the Cup level, there is speculation that he will be in a new ride next year.
Spire Motorsports has been discussed as the most notable Cup Series possibility, given the ongoing connection between the two parties and the fact that Spire's current trajectory makes them arguably the only team able to give Busch one last shot in a competitive Cup ride.
But what about a Truck Series ride?
Let's keep this as simple as possible. If Kyle Busch lands a full-time Truck Series ride, nobody is going to come even remotely close to stopping him from winning the championship.
Since going five-for-five in 2019, Busch hasn't had quite that level of success. He's "only" won 13 of his next 34 races, including two of four so far in 2026 at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) and Dover Motor Speedway.
Seriously, who is going to beat Busch in a competitive truck over a full 25-race season?
Sure, Corey Heim won 12 of 25 races a year ago, but there's a reason that was a record-breaking season. Corey Heims don't just come around every day, and even this one, whose 25 career series wins rank fifth all-time, had sort of "overstayed his welcome" in the series, simply because Joe Gibbs Racing refused to overlook his ARCA feuds with Ty Gibbs and give him the Cup ride he deserved as early as two or three years ago.
To compare, this year's points leader, Kaden Honeycutt, has just one win, the first of his career, through the season's first nine races. And only two of the other eight races have been won by full-time Truck Series drivers. Busch and Heim, who have combined for just eight starts, co-lead the series with two wins apiece.
If Busch is serious about becoming champion across all three national series, he cannot afford to put it off until it's too late. He could theoretically do it as early as next year if he wants to, and there would arguably be no better time to pull it off.
As things stand, Spire Motorsports run two full-time Truck Series entries, and both are shared entries. Busch is lined up to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet in his remaining four races, just as he did in his first four.
Full-time Spire Motorsports Cup driver Carson Hocevar is the primary driver of the No. 77 truck and is expected to have run more than half the schedule by the time the season wraps up, even though he isn't eligible to run the regular season finale or the seven playoff races.
But the 2026 season is Hocevar's third Cup Series season, meaning he will no longer be eligible to run more than eight Truck Series races in 2027.
So while a Spire Motorsports Cup ride might not be in the cards for the 41-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native, perhaps the perfect opportunity could await him in the one national series that has not yet seen him crowned champion.
The next Truck Series race on the 2026 schedule is the North Carolina Education Lottery 200, which is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Charlotte Motor Speedway beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 22. Busch is set to run this race as well, and he will undoubtedly be the favorite to win it, as he's eight for 16 at the track in his Truck Series career. Begin a free trial of FuboTV today and don't miss it!
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