Brexton Busch, 11, Drives His Late Father’s No. 18 to Victory at Port City Raceway
Fourteenth on the grid. Wreck on the opening lap shoves you to the back. Most grown men pack it in right there and start thinking about the ride home.
Brexton Busch is eleven years old, and he did not pack it in.
On July 17, at Port City Raceway in Oklahoma, Kyle Busch’s son won the restricted micro sprint feature — his first victory since his father’s death in May. He did it in the late NASCAR champion’s No. 18 car, working from dead last through the field to reach the front. The film doesn’t lie: the kid can drive.
Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch died May 21 at age 41 after his family said he had been hospitalized with a severe illness. Less than two weeks later, Brexton was back at a racetrack, running at Charlotte Motor Speedway, continuing the career his parents had built around him since he could barely see over a dashboard. His mother, Samantha Busch, documented the Port City victory across a series of Instagram Stories posts that night.
“There was a lot of emotions to say the very least,” she wrote. “Beyond proud of him, not just for winning but all that he’s navigating at a young age.”
She added that she was “beyond shattered Kyle isn’t here to be a part of this” — and “beyond grateful for all the support and amazing people we have around us.”
Samantha’s play-by-play of the feature told the whole story. Brexton gridded 14th. A first-lap wreck dropped him to 12th and into the back of the pack. Then he picked them off, one by one, until there was nobody left in front of him. “And he ended up with the WIN!!!!” she wrote.
She also shared video of the green No. 18 working through its outlaw heat, noting that Brexton was “driving Dad’s car.” A photograph showed micro sprint driver Frank Flud in conversation with the boy — Samantha wrote that she was grateful for all the drivers who had “coached, encouraged and supported Brexton thru all this.”
That kind of mentorship matters. I’ve seen enough freshmen linebackers crumble when the varsity coach who recruited them walks away. What keeps a kid upright is the community around him — the older hands who step in, pull him aside, and tell him to keep his pads low. Brexton has that in the sprint car community, and it shows.
Kyle Busch’s final Instagram post, shared just days before his death, was a birthday tribute to Brexton. “Happy Birthday Brexton!!! Your mom & I are so proud of who you’re turning out to be!” he wrote. “You’re the best kid on & off the track, you amaze us every day. Keep doing what you’re doing and there is no limit to what you’ll accomplish! Love you buddy!”
Samantha, 40, and Kyle also share a 4-year-old daughter, Lennix.
Starting 14th, getting wrecked to the back, and still finding your way to the front — that’s not luck. That’s composure under pressure that most adults don’t have. The film doesn’t lie.