Of Kyle Busch’s document 234 mixed victories throughout NASCAR’s prime three nationwide touring circuits, 69 of them got here within the Craftsman Truck Sequence. His final two wins got here within the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, a part of an eight-race deal that the two-time Cup Sequence champion was set to compete in through the 2026 Truck Sequence season.
Following his stunning demise on Might 21 on the age of 41, Spire needed to discover alternative drivers for the No. 7 machine to complete Busch’s schedule.
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Spire introduced Wednesday, July 8, that for the FaithFest 250 on July 18 at North Wilkesboro, Chase Elliott will get behind the wheel of the truck that Busch final received in.
For the 30-year-old Elliott, who was the Cup Sequence champion in 2020, it will mark his first Truck Sequence race since 2023 when he completed tenth at Daytona. Elliott has by no means pushed full-time in vans, however has received three of the 18 races he is entered within the sequence and has a mean end of seven.7 in vans.
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates successful the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Pictures)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 8: Ryan Blaney celebrates successful the Straight Discuss Wi-fi 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
(Meg Oliphant, Getty Pictures)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
March 1: Tyler Reddick celebrates successful the DuraMax Grand Prix Powered by RelaDyne at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
(Logan Riely, Getty Pictures)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
Feb. 22: Tyler Reddick celebrates successful the Autotrader 400 at EchoPark Speedway in Hampton, Georgia.
(Mady Mertens, Imagn Pictures)
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See victory lane celebrations with 2026 NASCAR race winners
Feb. 15: Tyler Reddick celebrates along with his household and crew after successful the 68th working of the Daytona 500 at Daytona Worldwide Speedway.
(Mike Watters, Imagn Pictures)
It will likely be a triple-duty weekend for Elliott. Along with driving within the Truck Sequence for Spire and driving his No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports within the top-level Cup Sequence, Elliott is about to race in Friday evening’s zMAX CARS Tour occasion at North Wilkesboro. The late-model stockcar racing sequence is co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Justin Marks. It will likely be Elliott’s first time racing in that sequence, driving the No. 8 automotive for JR Motorsports.
North Wilkesboro was set to be the seventh truck race for Busch in 2026. He accomplished 4 races of the eight-race slate with Spire, taking checkered flags at Atlanta and Dover. His win at Dover got here simply six days earlier than his demise rocked the NASCAR neighborhood.
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In line with his demise certificates, Busch died attributable to hemorrhagic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation – which causes widespread clotting in small blood vessels. He had been affected by sepsis for no less than a day, based on the demise certificates, and had been coping with issues of presumed bacterial pneumonia for “days to weeks.”
Following his demise, Corey Day and Rajah Caruth have stuffed in for the No. 7 truck. Day crashed out of the race at Charlotte, whereas Caruth completed second at Nashville. The opposite remaining race on Busch’s Truck Sequence schedule this season is on Aug. 14 at Richmond. Spire has not but introduced a driver for the truck for that race.
The connections Spire had with Busch ran deep. The headquarters the group runs its operation out of was previously the house of Kyle Busch Motorsports, a Truck Sequence crew. Spire’s co-owner, Jeff Dickerson, was Busch’s spotter and agent early in his profession. Within the first Cup Sequence race following Busch’s demise, the Coca-Cola 600, a Spire automotive pushed by Daniel Suarez captured the win.
Elliott is without doubt one of the most achieved drivers within the Cup Sequence. The son of 1988 Cup Sequence champion Invoice Elliott, Chase has 23 wins on the sport’s prime stage together with two this season at Martinsville and Texas. Heading into this weekend’s race at Atlanta, the Dawsonville, Georgia native is fifth within the level standings. Elliott can also be a champion of the second-tier O’Reilly Auto Components Sequence, has received The Duel at Daytona thrice, received the primary Conflict at Bowman Grey Stadium in 2025, received the All-Star Race in 2020, and has been named NASCAR’s Most Common Driver for eight consecutive years.
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Following Busch’s demise, Elliott instructed reporters he withdrew his identify from the Most Common Driver poll for this season with the hope that Busch wins it. His father did the identical factor in 2001 when Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in a crash at Daytona.
“I simply assume it is a type of issues that I believe Kyle is a man that actually deserves one thing of an award like that,” Elliott mentioned. “I believe he is a man that has had a variety of followers over the course of his profession.”
The Truck Sequence race at North Wilkesboro may even characteristic former Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman. The Cup Sequence race at North Wilkesboro this season would be the first top-level factors race the historic observe has hosted since 1996.
