For weeks, every update involving Brexton Busch has carried the same question: how do you keep chasing a dream that was built alongside someone who is no longer there? On Friday night at Port City Raceway in Tulsa, the 11-year-old answered it the only way he knows how. He raced.
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Brexton fought from deep in the field to score his first win since losing his father, Kyle Busch, in May. The win was emotional on its own, but what followed showed why so many people across NASCAR have wrapped their arms around the Busch family.
“When a tragedy happens, there’s no better place to be than the racetrack because everybody there is going to help you,” Kevin Harvick said on Speed with Harvey and Buxton.
“I think everybody wants to see not only Brexton succeed, but the entire family succeed, feel supported, and have people they can lean on.”
Kevin Harvick’s words followed what was an unforgettable drive at the Non-Wing Nationals. Brexton started 14th in the Restrictor Micro Sprint A-Main and nearly got caught in an opening-lap pileup. Instead, he stayed clear, picked his way through the field, found speed around the outside groove, and drove his bright green No. 18 to Victory Lane. For Kevin Harvick, the result was bigger than a race win.
“This is exactly what his dad would have wanted him to be doing,” he said. “He had a little trouble early in the race with an accident, then drove all the way back to the front. This would have been an epic Kyle Busch clip after the race because he would have been absolutely through the roof, excited and proud of everything Brexton did.”
Samantha Busch’s reaction showed just how much the night meant on the other side of the pit wall. “This is his very first win since Kyle’s passing. There was a lot of emotions to say the very least,” she wrote on Instagram. “Beyond proud of him not just for winning but all that he’s navigating at young age, beyond shattered Kyle isn’t here to be part of this, beyond grateful for all the support and amazing people we have around us.”
Long before any of this happened, Kyle had already mapped out the philosophy behind Brexton’s development. He wanted his son learning on both dirt and pavement rather than specializing too early, with Late Models among the steps ahead as he got older. The idea was to keep exposing Brexton to different disciplines and build a more complete driver.
Kyle had been Brexton’s crew chief, mechanic, driving coach and mentor. The path they built together, however, is still moving forward.
Earlier this season, Brexton moved into a full-sized Junior Late Model with Wilson Motorsports at Madera Speedway, where his early results have included a second-place finish and another podium. He has also stepped into INEX Legends competition after becoming the 2025 INEX Bandolero Bandits National Champion, while continuing to race across disciplines in the path Kyle had envisioned for him.
The Port City win made that continuation painfully personal. Brexton performed Kyle’s signature bow in Victory Lane, then put into words what the previous two months had been like. “My first win since my dad passed. I don’t like to talk about it much, but the last two months have been really tough,” he wrote on X. “I’m missing my crew chief, my driver coach, my dad, the guy who I looked up to more than anyone.”
Brexton also knew exactly what Kyle would have noticed about the drive. “I know he would be proud the way I ran the top (much better than him lol) to win my first Micro A-Main at Port City. We love and miss you so much dad.”
That is what makes Harvick’s words resonate beyond one night in Tulsa. Brexton is still following the racing path he built with his father, only now without the crew chief, coach and dad who helped map it out. But as Samantha put it, they remain “beyond grateful for all the support and amazing people we have around us.” For a family finding its way forward at the racetrack, that support is exactly what Harvick was talking about.