It had long been expected that Kyle Busch would return to Spire Motorsports for the 2026 NASCAR Truck Series season, and in eight races instead of just five after NASCAR eased the restrictions on full-time Cup Series drivers with at least three years of experience competing in lower NASCAR national divisions.
That eight-race deal was confirmed by the Jeff Dickerson-owned team earlier this week, beginning with next weekend's race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), and it was confirmed that Busch is set to drive the No. 7 Chevrolet with sponsorship from longtime Spire Motorsports partner HendrickCars.com.
Busch is in a contract year with Richard Childress Racing after agreeing to an extension toward the beginning of the 2025 season. After back-to-back winless seasons ended his record-breaking 19-year winning streak, there has already been plenty of speculation about his future.
He has been linked to Spire Motorsports before, and with the team having both a veteran driver in Michael McDowell and another veteran in Daniel Suarez on somewhat of a "prove it" deal after he was let go by Trackhouse Racing after five years, they have already emerged as a potential Busch suitor for 2027 as well.
But it's the sponsorship for Busch's Truck Series deal that really has fans talking.
Sure, HendrickCars.com has sponsored other drivers with no direct ties to Hendrick Motorsports before via Spire Motorsports, but Alex Bowman is another driver who is set to enter a contract year, and he probably can't afford another winless season, having won just once since March 2022, if he wants to be back for a 10th year with Rick Hendrick's team in 2027.
Ally Financial has already signed on with Hendrick Motorsports through 2028, while Bowman's current deal is up after 2026. It says all you need to know about his "hot seat" status.
Does it imply that Busch could be a candidate to return to where it all began, the team for which he earned the first four victories of his Cup Series career from 2005 to 2007 before landing with Joe Gibbs Racing for what turned out to be an historic 15-year run in 2008?
It didn't take long for cold water to be poured on a similar rumor from 2022, when Busch was in a contract year with Joe Gibbs Racing. Before the 2023 season is when Bowman and Hendrick Motorsport re-upped to keep him in the No. 48 Chevrolet through 2026.
Yet for what it's worth, nobody ever thought a deal involving Richard Childress Racing and Busch was possible, even as it became clear early on in the 2022 season that a 2023 return to Joe Gibbs Racing was effectively off the table.
Now that reality is entering year number four.
Is a Hendrick reunion unlikely, two decades later? Sure. Busch's back-to-back winless seasons, as he prepares to enter his age-41 season, don't exactly bode well for his own future. Even Bowman qualified for the playoffs in both 2024 and 2025, something Busch failed to do, and he has the advantage of being eight years younger.
But there's no doubt that Hendrick Motorsports is a step ahead of Richard Childress Racing, and Kyle Busch is still Kyle Busch, a future Hall of Famer and two-time Cup Series champion who holds the NASCAR national series wins record. Sometimes you truly never can say never, and after one of the calmest NASCAR silly seasons of all-time, perhaps this coming silly season could see some serious shakeups across the garage.