Just one night before he was supposed to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he was an eight-time winner in the series, and three days before he was supposed to compete in the Coca-Cola 600, a race he won in 2018, two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch died at the age of 41, due to pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.
In addition to his full-time duties as the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, which had been his ride since the start of the 2023 season, Busch had been competing part-time in the Truck Series for Spire Motorsports.
The old "Kyle Busch rule", which was literally instituted because of how dominant Busch was at the sport's lower level, was slightly relaxed ahead of the 2026 season, limiting full-time Cup drivers with at least three years of Cup experience to eight Truck Series races instead of just five, as had been the case in previous years.
Busch had just made his fourth Truck Series start of the year at Dover Motor Speedway, less than a week before his death. He earned his second win of the season in that race, as he also won at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta Motor Speedway) in February. He also placed eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway in April and second at Texas Motor Speedway earlier in the month.
Spire Motorsports turning to another familiar face at Nashville
Corey Day took over behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet at Charlotte, and he actually got to start on pole because of Busch.
Qualifying was rained out, so NASCAR resorted to the qualifying metric to determine the starting lineup. Busch's win at Dover, coupled with the No. 7 team's P1 position in the Truck Series owner standings (again, largely due to Busch's success), earned Day the top spot for the green flag.
Busch had also been lined up to compete at Nashville Superspeedway this Friday night, as well as the July race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and the August race at Richmond Raceway.
This weekend at Nashville, it's Rajah Caruth who is set to take over behind the wheel of the No. 7 truck.
Caruth currently competes full-time in the O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, between both JR Motorsports and Jordan Anderson Racing. He spent three full seasons in the Truck Series beforehand, including the 2024 and 2025 campaigns with Spire Motorsports. He won two races, and the second of those two wins came at Nashville in May 2025.
As for the Cup Series, Austin Hill drove Busch's car in the Coca-Cola 600, although the No. 8 was turned to No. 33. Richard Childress Racing have made clear that the No. 8 is now reserved for Busch's 11-year-old son, Brexton. While definitive plans have not yet been announced for the No. 33 car moving forward, Hill is again set to drive it in this Sunday night's race.
Friday night's Allegiance 200 Truck Series race is set to be shown live on Fox Sports 1 from Nashville Superspeedway beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET. Start a free trial of FuboTV now and don't miss it! As for the Cup Series, Sunday night's Cracker Barrel 400 is set to be shown live on Amazon Prime Video beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET.
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