Richard Childress made himself available to the media on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway for the first time since the death of Kyle Busch.
As it turns out, this press conference had been scheduled for several weeks, and the time had been made available to formally announce that the two-time Cup Series champion was signing an extension with RCR for 2027.
The agreement was that close to being finalized. Childress says that Busch told him that they were going to make the Chase for the Championship if they kept bringing cars that were as competitive as they started to be.
Beyond that, he and interim crew chief Andy Street were starting to build something that everyone felt was a foundation for a more competitive future. That contract was never signed and what would have happened will be forever left to the imagination.
“This is a different different type of media availability,” Childress said. “Instead of a press conference that he was coming back and racing for us in ’27 … I talked to Kyle on Tuesday night before everything went down on Wednesday night and Thursday and we had a great conversation talking about how he said, ‘you give me cars like you gave me the last three weeks,’ he said, ‘I will make The Chase this year.
“I mean we were that confident. Both of us had a lot of confidence in us. We haven't had the year that any of us expected or wanted. We started out like gangbusters and it just didn't go. We've had a lot of opportunities and we just didn't finish 'em off. But that's a tough part about today. Even walking in here, I was thinking, ‘what if he and I were walking in together instead coming in here and thanking the media for the support.”
Childress has been here before, of course, losing Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 but it doesn’t get any easier.
“This has been, I mean both of them, you lose two of the greatest drivers that has ever driven a car in NASCAR and have to go through it again …,” Childress said. “I just feel so bad for the family and the employees and everybody. But yeah, I mean I hadn't slept very good lately and I'll leave it at that.”
Childress also said it is his every intent to have Austin Hill finish the season in what was the No. 8 car, now rebranded as the No. 33 but with the same crew and sponsorship lineup.
“I mean for right now Austin is going to drive as far as we're concerned the rest of the year,” Childress said. “We don't want to put a burden back on everybody trying to go from one driver to the other one.”
Meanwhile, Childress is preserving the stylized No. 8 for Brexton Busch, should the son of Kyle ever want to use it when the time comes. All told, Childress was just happy that he got a chance to race alongside one of the all-time greats and forge a personal relationship with him.
“Kyle will go down in history as one of the greatest race drivers that's ever been,” Childress said. “He’ll definitely be in the Hall of Fame. I'd love to see him put him in it right away. He helped RCR when we needed it. He came right in and we won three races the first part of the year, got a little off and we had a lot of opportunities to win other races and we just didn't finish and capitalize on them.
“But I think his legacy is going to be that he was a man that a lot of people thought he was tough to deal with and that we wouldn't last long. But he is a man that loves this sport. He loved it so much. He wanted to see his family carry on and I watched what he had going on with Brexton and I would go to the races over at Millbridge and watch them race together.
“I would see the enjoyment in Kyle’s eyes. Watching his son race was just unbelievable. His legacy will be in history. He'll go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time. He's won over 200 races and just all of us are going to miss him. You guys and ladies are going to miss having him in here after a win.”
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