Watch Austin Hill prepare to replace Kyle Busch in the Coca-Cola 600.
Richard Childress Racing announced that Austin Hill will replace Kyle Busch at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte, North Carolina. This week, Kyle Busch passed away suddenly at the age of 41.
Kyle Busch will no longer appear in NASCAR’s Cup Series points standings for the 2026 season.
Busch, who passed away last Thursday from what his family said was complications from severe pneumonia that progressed to sepsis, was 24th in points following the final Cup Series race on May 10 at Watkins Glen. Busch finished 17th at Dover a week later in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 8 Chevrolet, but the All-Star race does not count towards his season points total.
Following Busch’s shocking death, his car’s number was renumbered to 33, and Austin Hill raced in his place in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finishing 27th. Hill will also fill the No. 33 seat this Sunday in Nashville.
NASCAR made the decision to remove Busch from the points standings after talking with RCR about how to “make that impact resonate with people who see his name in the standings,” according to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockras.
Busch is the winningest driver of all time with a total of 234 wins in NASCAR’s top three national touring series. He has 63 wins in the top-level Cup Series, which ranks ninth all-time. He also has 102 wins in the second-class O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, the most ever by a driver, and 69 wins in the Craftsman Truck Series, the most by any driver. Busch won his final truck race at Dover on May 15, driving the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. This weekend in Nashville, Busch will be replaced by Raja Carruth who will be driving that truck.
Busch, who was with Joe Gibbs Racing from 2008 to 2022, won the Cup Series championship in 2015 and 2019 driving the No. 18 Toyota. At that time, M&M’s sponsorship was often plastered on the hood.
Busch is the only driver to win at least one Cup Series race in 19 consecutive seasons, from 2005 to 2023. As another example of the pure, raw racing talent that Busch possessed, he is the only driver to win each of three races (Truck, O’Reilly Series, and Cup Series) in the same weekend. He achieved it twice in 2010 and 2017 at Bristol.
