NASCAR Loosens Its Rules, And Kyle Busch Loosens His Tongue

Kyle Busch’s reaction was predictable.

“Gee, what do you know? Kyle Busch isn’t winning—let’s open it back up, OK?” was Busch’s tongue-in-cheek response when asked about the expanded eligibility rules next year for what will be the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series and for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

“I’m not spiteful at all.”

Busch is the career wins leader in both series, with 102 victories in the current Xfinity Series and 67 in Trucks. His prolific trips to Victory Lane were in part responsible for NASCAR curtailing the number of races a veteran NASCAR Cup Series driver could run to five in each series.

The expanded rules, announced Saturday, will allow a Cup driver with 3-plus years’ experience in NASCAR’s top division to run 10 O’Reilly Auto Parts events and eight Truck Series races, starting in 2026.

Cup drivers remain ineligible for cut-off, Playoff and championship races.

After reaching 100 Xfinity wins, Busch cut back his presence in that series. He ran four events for Kaulig Racing in 2023 and one last year for Richard Childress Racing. His last victory in the series came at Atlanta in 2021, when he won all five of his starts.

Though Busch expects to run Truck Series races for Spire Motorsports next year (he won his 67th race in a Spire Chevrolet this season), his opportunities in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series will be limited. Kaulig is abandoning its program in that series in favor of a five-truck effort with new manufacturer Ram.

“It would be nice,” Busch said of potential rides in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series. “I don’t have any free funds behind me that I could just go in and buy myself a ride. I’ve got to rely on somebody calling me to put me in with something they’ve got already.

“So that’s kind of where I’m at, I guess.”