Tuesday night at the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Brexton Busch was in a racecar.
The 11-year-old son of the late Kyle Busch ran laps June 2 in a practice session for the CookOut Summer Shootout, a Legend Car Series that runs weekly at the track in Concord, North Carolina. Busch was piloting his neon green No. 18 car around the track, according to photos posted on social media by the Charlotte Motor Speedway official account.
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Busch was back in his legend car just hours after a private memorial service was held for his father in the Charlotte area.
Kyle Larson alluded to the service being held after his dirt race win in Iowa on Monday night, and Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass confirmed a memorial was happening. Retired NASCAR driver Mark Martin wrote in a tweet Wednesday morning, “My eyes watered a lot yesterday.”
Brexton Busch has been racing since the age of six. Last year, he won 48 competitions in multiple disciplines of racing, from legends cars and bandeleros, to micros, bandits, late models and sprint cars. Legend cars are designed to replicate old-style cars from the 1930s on a five-eighths scale, running on Yamaha motorcycle engines. Their speeds top out between 115 and 140 miles per hour.
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Legend cars are one of the many series that winds up producing drivers who go on to NASCAR. Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Jr. all started out in legends. And so did Kyle Busch, out in Las Vegas.
Busch died at the age of 41 on May 21 after complications from severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis. His sudden death sent shockwaves through NASCAR and drivers have continued to honor him. Many of the legend cars at practice on Tuesday night had decals for Busch on their cars.
Busch is NASCAR’s all-time leader in combined victories across its top three national touring series with 234. He won his final race just six days before his death, driving into victory lane in the Truck Series race at Dover.
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Brexton will race in Round 1 of the CookOut Summer Shootout on Monday, June 8.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brexton Busch returns to racing after Kyle Busch’s memorial service
