Kyle Busch's overshadowed and overlooked NASCAR legacy

Outside of the trophies and money that come with those accolades, Busch will leave a far more enduring – and often overlooked – legacy on the sport.

It’s a legacy that came into focus Thursday night when one of Busch’s drivers, 18-year-old William Byron, won the Camping World Truck Series race at Kentucky Speedway. The win was a NASCAR-record 51st for Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Busch himself is responsible for 29 of those victories but check out some of the names that have helped fill in the remaining 22: Byron, Erik Jones, Darrell Wallace Jr. and Christopher Bell.

What do they all have in common?

Victories they earned while given the opportunity to compete in a KBM truck have helped launch their respective NASCAR careers.

Jones and Wallace currently run fulltime in the Xfinity Series – Jones with Joe Gibbs Racing and Wallace with Roush Fenway Racing – and Bell and Byron currently run fulltime in Trucks with KBM.

All four – their average age is 20.25 years – are likely to be some of NASCAR’s stars-to-watch over the next two decades. And each of them got their first taste of national series competition thanks to KBM, owned by Busch and his wife, Samantha.

Contributing to the future of the sport

Busch, Brad Keselowski and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are the only current Cup drivers who continue to reinvest in the sport by fielding teams in NASCAR’s lower divisions. Brad Keselowski Racing fields two fulltime Truck teams with drivers Daniel Hemric and Tyler Reddick while JR Motorsports fields three Xfinity teams (Justin Allgaier, Elliott Sadler, various drivers) and one Truck team (Cole Custer).

While Busch himself has become one of NASCAR’s most familiar faces, he hardly ever gets credit for paving the way for some who may one day supplant him.

David Wilson, president of Toyota Racing Development, doesn’t need any reminders of Busch’s contributions and agrees they often gets overshadowed, sometimes by the driver’s own accomplishments.

“You ask yourself the question: What if Kyle and Samantha decided not to make that investment? It takes a lot of commitment to start a race team in this sport. You don’t make 10 cents doing it and it’s everything you could do to not lose your butt,” Wilson said.

“But Kyle and Samantha have been passionate about it and terrific partners to Toyota and we’re extremely grateful and fortunate to have people like that in the sport.”

The importance of NASCAR's youth movement

Much of the publicity surrounding NASCAR is often focused on the top-tier Cup series and its stars, but the recent and pending retirements of Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart highlight the importance of showcasing a new era of stars.

“This is where it all starts. What makes me proud is the commitment that Toyota has and Kyle Busch Motorsports has and all our partners toward developing these young men and women,” Wilson said.

“They are the future of the sport. If you are not working on that then you are not focusing on the horizon. It’s easy to get too wrapped up in today, next week and next year but you have to invest.

“William Byron and Christopher Bell and these young kids – they are the future of NASCAR.”

And while Busch continues to add to an already-stacked resume of NASCAR victories, he continues to plow a path for others to follow through his KBM organization.

“With the evolution of Kyle Busch Motorsports, it started (when) it was me running the majority of the races and being behind the wheel and winning those races, to now of late, the younger guys have won more races than I have in the last two or three years,” Busch said.

“It’s been pretty impressive to see that change and see in having William and Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace and those guys being able to win races in our stuff and carry themselves on to the next level. I’m sure there are going to be many more guys or girls that come through our place and hopefully they win just as much.”