Kyle Busch is busy. But it’s a different kind of busy these days for the 40-year-old.

“We have 16 different schedules on our calendar,” Busch tells RACER.

The ‘we’ is the Busch family. A two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Busch has his job on the weekends and then weekly responsibilities with Richard Childress Racing, Chevrolet, and sponsors, as well as time with his family. Samantha Busch, his wife, has a podcast and runs their foundation. Brexton, Busch’s son (main image), who is 10, has been climbing the racing ladder in recent years, including racing against dad, and daughter Lennix, who is three, has taken up gymnastics and karate.

Busch has been sharing insights into the active lifestyle of his family, supported by sponsor StarKist.

On one hand, the busyness helps keep Busch from getting too caught up with what happens on Sundays. It’s been two years since Busch last won a Cup Series race in the No. 8 Chevrolet, and Childress continues to search for the keys to success. But on the other hand, Busch having so many outside activities does not take away from his career.

“Sunday is my priority,” says Busch. “It has to be my No. 1 because if I’m not successful on Sunday, none of this other stuff happens and is possible. But being able to be busy and being able to put the focus on the Sunday stuff, meeting with Randall [Burnett, crew chief], all those guys during the week, I bet you I have worked more in the last three years than I did in the previous 15 altogether, and the results aren’t there. 

“Why? I don’t know. I wish I had a magic wand. It’s just not there. But that is definitely at the front of our minds.”

There was a time when Busch kept busy on NASCAR race weekends. Busch was one of the Cup Series drivers who loved being able to compete in the Craftsman Truck and Xfinity Series events, which meant a weekend full of different practices, qualifying, and two or three races. NASCAR changed the driver eligibility years ago, which limits the number of races Cup Series drivers can compete in, and Busch was one of the biggest ones affected.

NASCAR’s rulebook allows Cup Series drivers with more than three years of experience to run five Craftsman Truck Series races per season, and Busch ran those earlier this year. There is also a five-race limit for the Xfinity Series, but Busch didn’t have any of those on his schedule this year. It is the first time since 2022 that he didn’t run a race in the series.

Fortunately, Busch racing alongside Brexton, and also discovering his appreciation for other racing series such as legend cars and dirt, has helped fill the void. At least during the week.

“I would much rather be racing 10 or 12 races in the Truck Series or 10 and 15 races in the Xfinity Series, and then the Cup Series schedule,” Busch says. “In a perfect world, that’s what I would be doing. I would certainly like it if it were more the way of the old days.”

Brexton is now the third-generation Busch race car driver. He was born in 2015, the same year Kyle Busch won his first Cup Series championship, and back when Busch was routinely winning. But now, Brexton sees how much Owen Larson gets to celebrate with his dad, Kyle Larson, and it’s brought a bit of jealousy.

“He’s jealous of the fact that, ‘Man, my dad is one of the greatest, but now he’s not winning,” Busch says. “So, he misses that, and he doesn’t remember the days when he was getting thrown up in the air. I wish I were winning as much as I was then. Trust me, he’d be bragging to all the kids in the playground and telling them who the best is if we were still doing that.”

There has been plenty of winning from Brexton, and the father and son are now to the point of being able to compete with each other. It’s more than Busch ever could have imagined when his son was born.

“When he was four or five years old, it wasn’t on our radar to put him in a race car yet,” Busch says. “Then COVID happened, and Samantha said, ‘You need to find something to do. Get out of the house.’”

It started by watching go-karts. Greg Ives, the former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief, had a spare kart that Brexton began to practice with, and soon Busch was making the investment in a kart of Brexton’s own. And he never anticipated how quickly Brexton was going to take to it all.

The younger Busch will run full-time legend cars next year, as well as continuing his micro sprint car racing. In two years, the path would be late models and other programs. 

In other words, Busch is going to continue to be as busy as ever for the foreseeable future. 

“Samantha said it the other night, ‘You are never complimentary of him,’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am,’” says Busch. “I tell him when he does a good job. I tell him that when he finished third, it was a great race, and you probably would have run eighth with the car he had. So, I give him compliments that he’s outperforming his equipment. But then there are other times when he wants it to come more easily. He thinks he’s won it before, so he should win every time.

“I’m like, ‘Bro, you have to be the driving force to win. It’s not going to fall into your lap.’ I see him sometimes take it for granted when he chills and doesn’t really push the envelope against the competition to strive for more. He’s sort of content in a spot and lets things open up for him. Where a lot of times, you have to make those open. Trust me, everybody was always trying to pull my rope. There are a couple of times I’m trying to push his.”