Remembering Kyle Busch: NASCAR's Number 18, Forever

Today we are setting our regular coverage aside.

Kyle Busch, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, passed away on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at the age of 41 after being hospitalized with a severe illness. NASCAR, Richard Childress Racing, and the Busch family confirmed the news this afternoon. The motorsports world is grieving, and we are too.

How Kyle Made Us NASCAR Fans

The first time we saw Kyle Busch race, he was in the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet, running second in the 2007 Daytona 500, and he crashed on the final lap. Something about that race did it. The way he raced, the way he wrecked, the way he wore it on his face afterward. From that day forward, we were in. He was the reason we became NASCAR fans in the first place.

Every year after that, our family would go to both Fontana weekends just to see him. Saturday's race and Sunday's. We'd buy two tickets so we could see him race twice in one weekend. We saw the Friday-Saturday-Sunday sweep weekend at Auto Club Speedway in person, at least the Sunday Cup race that capped it off, and we still talk about it. Nobody else in the sport could pull off a sweep like Kyle. He was the only one who'd even try.

A giant Fathead of his M&M's No. 18 was on our bedroom wall for our entire childhood. That number is Kyle Busch. It always will be. The 8 at RCR is where he raced at the end, and we loved him in that car too, but the 18 is what we picture when we close our eyes and think of him. The yellow and brown. The bow ties on the championship stages in 2015 and 2019. The burnouts.

A Career That Reshaped the Record Book

Kyle Busch finishes his career as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history:

• 63 Cup Series wins — 9th all-time
• 2 Cup Series championships — 2015 and 2019
• 102 wins in the Xfinity / O'Reilly Auto Parts Series — an all-time record
• 69 wins in the Craftsman Truck Series — an all-time record
• 22 full-time Cup Series seasons

Across NASCAR's three national series, no one won more races than Kyle Busch. Not by a little. By a country mile. That number is going to stand for a long, long time. Maybe forever.

He was also a team owner in the Truck Series, where he built up and mentored the next generation of NASCAR drivers. That part of his legacy is still being written through every driver he ever signed.

To Samantha, Brexton, Lennix, and Kurt

Our hearts are with Kyle's wife Samantha, his children Brexton and Lennix, his brother Kurt, and the entire Busch family today. To everyone at Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch Motorsports, M&M's, and to every fan who pulled for the 18 (and later the 8) over the last two decades, we are grieving with you.

This Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte was already going to be a Memorial Day weekend tribute to fallen service members. It will now also be a tribute to one of the greatest drivers the sport has ever seen. Forty cars will carry names on their windshields. One name we will all be thinking about beyond that, all 600 miles long, is Kyle Busch.

Our Promise

ColorWay Sports has only ever lightly covered NASCAR. That is going to change. Starting now, we will be writing more NASCAR, more race recaps, more paint scheme reviews, more driver coverage. We want to honor what Kyle gave us by giving the sport he loved the editorial attention it deserves on this site.

Rest easy, Rowdy. Thank you for everything.