Richard Childress, team owner of Richard Childress Racing (RCR), revealed plans to keep Austin Hill as the driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entry for the remainder of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, beginning with this Sunday’s FireKeepers Casino 400 event at Michigan International Speedway.
The news was made by Richard Childress, who held an emotional press conference in the media center at Michigan on June 6, 2026. Childress’ conference occurred more than two weeks after the loss of one of his star competitors, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch. Busch, who drove for RCR since the start of the 2023 season through mid-May this season and notched a trio of victories during the 2023 season, died at age 41 on May 21, 2026, due to a severe case of bacterial pneumonia that progressed into sepsis.
In the aftermath of Busch’s death, Austin Hill, who competes for RCR on a full-time basis in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, was selected to pilot Busch’s entry that was renumbered to 33 from 8 as Childress has sole ownership of the number and will reserve it for Busch’s son, Brexton, in the event the latter decides to compete for any organization in NASCAR. Hill has since campaigned in the last two Cup events, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Nashville Superspeedway, with the No. 33 entry, finishing 27th in both.
While revealing plans to keep Austin Hill as the driver of the No. 33 entry in the Cup circuit, Childress stood by the decision and took the time to recognize the sponsors that had been affiliated with Busch for supporting the organization and Hill one race per week at a time for the remainder of the 2026 season.
“Mike Verlander, our President, and I were talking about it…We decided that Austin Hill was who we needed to put in [the No. 33 car] at this time,” Childress said. “Our sponsors have been great to work with through this year. Just like we had with Dale [Earnhardt Sr.], the sponsors worked really well with us with that loss. Putting Austin [Hill] in it was a choice that we made for right now.
Initial plans to extend Kyle Busch’s contract to 2027
During Childress’ conference, he revealed that both he and Busch were scheduled to announce a contract extension at the Michigan race weekend, keeping Busch as an RCR Cup competitor for the 2027 season. The duo selected Michigan for the announcement and were planning to make it with the head representatives of GM and Chevrolet, with the manufacturers having their global headquarters in Michigan.
The planned contract extension decision was made as both Childress and Busch had expressed enthusiasm and were optimistic in their level of progression on the track. Although notching an average-finishing result of 22.1 and netting only a single top-10 result through the first 10-scheduled events of the 2026 season, Busch improved his average-finishing result to 14.0 in what would be his final two Cup starts. This included a season-high eighth-place run at Watkins Glen International, and since he had Andy Street replace Jim Pohlman as his crew chief.
“I talked to Kyle Tuesday night, before everything went down Wednesday night and Thursday, and we had a great conversation,” Childress said. “[Busch] said, ‘You give me cars as you gave me the last three weeks and I will make the Chase this year.’ We were that confident. Both of us had a lot of confidence in this team. We haven’t had the year that any of us expected or wanted. We started out like gangbusters, and it just didn’t go as we expected. We’ve had a lot of opportunities, and we just didn’t finish them off.”
As Childress looks ahead to finishing off the 2026 season on a strong note, he took the time to recognize Kyle Busch’s contributions to the organization. These include his involvement in the 2023 season and his historic legacy, accomplishments and lasting impact he implemented towards his family, friends, fellow competitors and the competition.
“Kyle Busch will go down in history as one of the greatest drivers there’s ever been,” Childress said. “He’ll be in the Hall of Fame. I’d love to see them put him in it right away. He helped RCR when we needed him [in 2023], came right in, and we won three races the first part of the year.” Childress continued, saying, “he was a man that a lot of people thought was tough to deal with and that we wouldn’t last long, but he was a man that loved this sport. He loved it so much that he wanted to see his family carry it on.”
“[Busch]’s legacy will be in history,” Childress added. “He’ll go down as one of the greatest drivers of all time. He’s won over 200 races. All of us are going to miss him. You all are going to miss having him in here after a win.”
The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season for Richard Childress Racing continues with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 7. The event’s broadcast time is slated for 3 p.m. ET on Prime Video, MRN Radio, SiriusXM and HBO MAX.
