Richard Childress and Kyle Busch had this Saturday on the calendar for weeks. The two of them were going to walk into the media center at Michigan International Speedway together and announce that Busch had signed a one-year extension to keep driving for Richard Childress Racing through 2027. That was the plan. That was why the time was booked.
Busch died May 21 in Charlotte, of pneumonia and sepsis. He was 41. And so Childress walked in alone, and the news that was supposed to be a signing became a eulogy.
"And now it's a different kind of media availability," Childress said, glancing down, admitting that even in that moment he had still pictured walking in with Kyle beside him.
It was the first time the Hall of Fame owner had spoken at length in public since Busch's death two weeks ago — a loss the garage has been marking at the track ever since — and the grief had not gone anywhere. "It's been an unbelievable challenge we all are facing losing Kyle Busch at such a young age and so unexpected for all of us," he said.
He went back to the last real conversation the two of them had — the Tuesday night before Busch died two days later. Childress called it a great conversation. Busch was energized, sure of the year ahead, the kind of confident that made the extension feel like a handshake on something already decided.
"You give me cars like you did the last three weeks," Childress remembered him saying, "and I will make the Chase this year. We were that confident."
Then there is the number, and what Childress is doing with it. Austin Hill, RCR's longtime O'Reilly Auto Parts Series driver, will keep running both series and will drive Busch's former car the rest of the season — but with the No. 33. Not the 8. The 8 isn't being retired and it isn't being reassigned. Childress is holding it, for an 11-year-old. He intends to keep Busch's personally stylized No. 8 available for Busch's son, Brexton, whenever and wherever the boy one day races. He has already been to several of Brexton's races, including one this week.
"That kid can drive a race car," Childress said. "He's just a bright young man and a great race car driver and he'll carry the Busch legacy for many years to come."
Childress talked about the family — Busch's wife Samantha, Brexton, and four-year-old daughter Lennix — more than he talked about the racing. But the racing is the part that won't be matched. The records Busch leaves behind are the kind nobody is expected to reach again: 254 wins across NASCAR's three national series, the all-time mark; 102 wins in the O'Reilly Series and 69 in the Trucks, both records; a Truck win at Dover six days before he died. His 63 Cup victories rank ninth in the history of the sport, and he is one of only 18 drivers ever to win multiple Cup championships, in 2015 and 2019.
Childress didn't pretend everyone in the garage loved Busch. "I think his legacy is going to be he was a man who a lot of people thought was tough to deal with," he said — the prickliness was as much a part of Busch as the winning, and Childress wasn't going to sand it off.
"But he is a man that loves this sport. He loved it so much he wanted to see his family carry on and to watch what he had going on with Brexton, just to see the enjoyment in Kyle's eyes watching his son race was just unbelievable. His legacy in history will be that he will go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time. And all of us are going to miss him."
The session ran about 15 minutes. It was supposed to be about a contract.