Kyle Busch does not appear to be a happy man at RCR anymore. Coming off over 100 races since his last Cup Series win, and now feuding with the always back-of-the-pack driver Riley Herbst. Rowdy has hit a new career low, and it reminds one of his brother’s Kurt Busch time at Phoenix. But life is made up of phases, and with this being the last year of Kyle’s RCR contract, it gives him a chance to move on to another phase.
But would the fiery, competitive, and passionate Rowdy Busch even want to continue racing, and if so, where to? Should he retire? He’s a two-time champion who, to many fans, is one of the greatest of all time; he doesn’t have a lot to prove. Or is there a way he can make history and carve out his own path that would once again set him apart from most drivers who have ever driven in the sport? Well, today I’m exploring all those options.
No. 1 Hendrick Motorsports!
The most fantastic of all the options, but it’s also fun to think about and grounded in reasons why it could happen. It would be romantic for Kyle Busch to end and/or revive his career at the place where his Cup career started. Debuting in 2004, the Hendrick five would be where Kyle Busch would earn his first career win and first career Chase appearances. His number five seat is now occupied by another Kyle, who has earned two championships with Hendrick Motorsports.
Kyle’s time at Hendrick quickly ended after only three seasons. Kicked from the team because Rick Hendrick disliked his brash and rowdy attitude, and he had a point. Controversy followed Kyle Busch as much as victory did, making him one of the most polarizing figures in NASCAR history.
But they find themselves potentially needing each other more than ever. Kyle Busch hasn’t won a Cup Series race since 2023 and hasn’t made the playoffs since 2024. For the first time in his entire life, Kyle Busch is not a competitive driver. While the Hendrick 48 hasn’t lost its competitiveness, it has lost its stability.
Alex Bowman’s availability is now becoming a very serious problem. Ever since 2022, Bowman has had three seasons where he’s missed multiple races. Including starting 2026, and have not done a full race until Bristol, missing a whole month of racing. In a sport where most drivers do every race in a season and everyone faces everyone, missing one race means everyone else gains points on you. That’s a big deal.
That and Bowman have always lagged behind his Hendrick teammates. He’s a talented driver; no doubt it’s not an easy task to win multiple Cup Series races over a season, let alone multiple times. And has come up in many clutch moments. Like his runner-up in the 2019 Roval race to move on to the next round of the playoffs, and incredible performances replacing Dale Jr despite the pressure of replacing the sport’s most popular driver, while having the best opportunity of his career come out of nowhere. But he’s always at the championship-level consistency of his teammates: Larson, Elliott, and Byron. Making Kyle Busch’s ironman status over the years, and even the chance he’s still holding on to remnants of his old championship form, that much more tantalizing.
Plus, Hendrick has taken chances on older drivers before. Most memorably, when they signed Mark Martin in 2009, he turned back the clock and, at fifty years old, gathered the inner strength to go on one last title challenge. Finishing second in the standings to another Hendrick driver, Jimmie Johnson. Go back even earlier in Hendrick’s history, and you’ll see that the 1975 Daytona 500 winner and 1973 Cup Series champion, Benny Parsons, was given a chance very late in his career to replace Tim Richmond in 1987 in the often forgotten Hendrick 35 after Richmond had been stricken with AIDS. Finishing 16th in the points without winning a single race, though getting three runner-up finishes that season.
And right now, Hendrick is in the perfect position to take a chance on an older driver to mentor one of the many young drivers they have developing. Like Corey Day, currently showing a lot of promise in his rookie Xfinity season with Hendrick. And Hendrick’s affiliate team, JR Motorsports, has Carson Kvapil, Sammy Smith, and Rajah Caruth all cooking in the oven right now. Chevy in trucks has other promising young prospects like Christian Eckes and Andrés Pérez de Lara, who could also fill that 48-seat soon. Not to mention Hendrick is still likely keeping its eye on Spire’s Carson Hocevar.
And there isn’t a better driver to mentor a young driver than Kyle Busch. Not only an extremely experienced former two-time Cup Series champion. But has also mentored many of the top drivers in Cup now who came through his former KBM Truck Series team. Like William Byron, Riley Herbst, Noah Gragson, Erik Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, Bubba Wallace, Todd Gilliland, and Daniel Suárez.
No. 2 Spire Motorsports… in trucks!
Another fitting way for Kyle Busch to end his career would be making history after walking back into the garage he built. In 2023, Kyle Busch sold his KBM Truck Series team to the up-and-coming Chevy Cup team Spire Motorsports. Not that, that’s stopped him from continuing to race and win in NASCAR’s third tier, winning his 68th career Truck Series earlier this year at Atlanta with Spire.
If Kyle Busch were to do something that no NASCAR Cup Series champion has done before and drop down into the lower series, he could make history and become the first-ever driver to win a championship in all three of NASCAR’s national series. Having won the 2009 Nationwide Series championship, then the 2015 and 2019 Cup Series championships. Not to mention Kyle Busch’s 68 Truck Series wins are the most of all time for any driver.
And what would a more Kyle Busch way to go out be? Kyle Busch has stood out throughout his incredible career because of his passion for the craft of racing, buschwhacking as much as possible. And his stubborn defiance always choosing himself and his passion for the sport over what others thought of him. So, going down to trucks to put the cherry on top of his domination of all three national series by getting a championship in all three would be the perfect goodbye to the sport if he does want to retire soon.
But what makes this unprecedented career move a real possibility is that Kyle Busch himself has shown interest in it. A Frontstretch reporter asked Kyle Busch about the possibility of his old team, KBM to NASCAR in the near future. And as he usually does, he’s brutally honest and says exactly what’s on his mind, saying, “No such thing as starting a team. I’ve been there and done that. So, uh, I’m hoping a team will hire me and give me an opportunity to race for a Truck championship. Yeah.” So, KBM most likely isn’t coming back soon, but clearly, going to Trucks is on Rowdy’s mind. So, no shock if in 2027, Kyle Busch is Buschwhacking no more.
No. 3 23XI Racing!
How about Kyle Busch reuniting with an old JGR friend? Denny Hamlin co-owns 23XI Racing, a team that opened in 2026 by winning the first three races of the season with NBA megastar Michael Jordan. They’re a team with three full-time entries (23,35, and 45) and a part-time car in the 67. With Riley Herbst’s struggles in the 35, having only one top ten in 44 races with 23XI Racing, it seems like it’d be a perfect seat for Kyle Busch to slot himself into.
One problem, though, Corey Heim. The 2025 Truck Series Champion is part-time in that 67 car, and it’s heavily rumored that Heim is the number one guy to take Herbst’s seat in 2027. If that’s true, that should shut the door on a grand return for Kyle Busch to Toyota. But it’s not that simple.
Both Kyle Busch and Heim have suffered from sponsorship issues in the 2020s. With that being the cited reason for Kyle Busch’s JGR exit, as his long-time sponsor M&M’s left the Toyota team after 2022, and Heim has never been able to lock down a personal sponsorship, and that’s one of the reasons the record-breaking 2025 Truck champion can’t find a full-time seat in 2026 after winning 12 of the 25 Truck Series races last year.
But 23XI Racing has been one of the best marketers in the sport since its 2021 start. And from a marketing perspective, it’d be much easier to sell companies on a partnership with a former two-time champion with one of the most unique personalities in the history of sport. Than an unproven up-and-comer. But Heim is only 23 and so has a much higher ceiling than the 40-year-old Kyle Busch. Making Heim the better choice from a team perspective, especially a team that’s already helped younger drivers become winning veterans like Bubba Wallace and Tyler Reddick.
But who says 23XI even has to choose? In 2021, they started with a single car and expanded to two full-time cars the next season. And that’s when they made the playoffs for the first time. Since then, they’ve expanded to three full-time cars and even made the final four with Tyler Reddick in 2024. Then sued the sport they were competing in, and coming off that have been the most in-form team so far in 2026, making history by winning the first three races of the season with Reddick.
So why couldn’t it expand to four full-time cars and remain competitive, or even in contention? And of course, Michael Jordan can provide them with all the money they need to buy any charter in this sport. Though Kyle Busch and Jordan would have to ignore comments Hamlin made about Kyle Busch’s recent NASCAR struggles, as reported by USA Today. So if Hamlin can pitch MJ on his old teammate and Kyle Busch doesn’t hold anything against him, it shouldn’t be a shock if you see the 67 and 35 full-time in 2027.
No. 4 McAnally–Hilgemann Racing!
Of course, Spire ain’t the only elite truck team in town. With MHR building itself up from its midpack days, led by the underrated Derek Kraus. To absorb and replace GMS’s place in trucks. As ambitious contenders who bring in a mix of proven talent and pay drivers to scoot on by.
And that’s why, more so than any other elite Truck Series team, they have the perfect seat for Kyle Busch to slot him into; it’s even the reverse of his famous JGR Cup number. Kris Wright has been disappointing in the No.81 truck so far this year, surprising no one. With the former Trans-AM winner developing an infamous reputation with fans peaking in 2025 during his stint with Our Motorsports. The team shut down midseason, with Wright as their only driver.
Sadly, that reputation has only grown in 2026. As Kris Wright currently sits 20th in the Truck Series standings, not had a single top 15 finish so far in the first six races of the season. His teammates, like Eckes, are currently fifth in the points after earning three top-five finishes. And his other teammates, Tyler Ankrum and Daniel Hemric, have two top tens this season.
He could always turn things around and end the season strong, proving his doubters wrong once and for all. But if he keeps his current form up, MHR will likely move on and look for another driver to fill his No.81 seat. His F.N.B. sponsorship is not enough to offset the race winnings the team is losing out on.
And Kyle Busch could be the perfect reverse solution. While he’s still struggling to find sponsorship but could provide MHR with the most winnings they’ve ever gotten in one season all by himself. The determined and cocky veteran is still proving to be very competitive in Trucks. As already done in his part-time stint with Spire’s truck program, he’s already gotten a win at Atlanta, another top ten finish, and a great run with an eighth place at Bristol.
Kyle Busch is looking to regain his focus and confidence. Plus is potentially looking to become the first-ever driver to win a title in all three National Series. While MHR is looking to finally break through and win their first title after contending with Hemric and Eckes. Could be a match made in heaven. Although they’d most likely be Rowdy’s second choice if Spire decided to sign him full-time.
No. 5 Legacy Motor Club!
This would be both a marriage of convenience and a full-circle moment for both Kyle Busch and team co-owner Jimmie Johnson. Something I’m sure most would agree would be extremely fitting for the sport of NASCAR. Also being fitting as it would solidify and likely end Kyle Busch’s legacy in the sport.
Legacy confirmed earlier this season that they’ll be opening a third full-time entry, a pretty rare move for teams this early in the season. Well before the traditional silly season. One reason could be to get to talk to drivers openly and more easily than if they were supposed to keep everything under wraps. So they can get to their desired driver first.
It’s not known who Legacy is pursuing, and while there are rumors, one can’t deny that, even with his recent struggles, Kyle Busch is one of the best drivers they could target. Due to his incredible leadership and ability, he believes in his equipment and feels comfortable within his team. Can outdrive his equipment. Not to mention has some of the most detailed and funniest technical feedback in the whole sport.
And of course, there’s a feel-good atmosphere of Kyle Busch going to a team that was owned by his former teammate and rival, Jimmie Johnson. Conjuring images of his famous 2008 Chicagoland duel, their Martinsville feud, which led to some of Kyle Busch’s best soundbites in his whole career. On Jimmie holding off Kyle Busch at Dover when he was still Johnson’s teammate.
Going from all those moments to picturing them being civil and discussing amongst themselves in the LMC hq. Seeing them together in interviews, commenting on the team’s state. And maybe even reminiscing about battling one another during their primes is quite a romantic image.
Though why would Kyle Busch want to go to Legacy Motor Club? Well, for one, they’re much more competitive than his current team, RCR, having multiple top tens this season, which is much better than RCR’s none. And while RCR continues to slide in form, Legacy has remained one of NASCAR’s better midpack teams since 2024. Plus, they don’t want to stay as a midpack team forever. Having ambitions of one day regularly contending for race wins. Something that if Kyle Busch could help them reach could give him a fairy tale ending to his career and allow him to get a couple of wins in before he hangs up his racing helmet.
But I believe I speak for most fans when I say I want to see one of NASCAR’s most exciting drivers and explosive personalities go out with a bang and not a whimper. Thanks a bunch for reading!