Adam Stern dropped a major news bomb on Wednesday morning by saying that Kyle Busch Motorsports is set to announce a sale of the team to Spire Motorsports potentially as soon as Wednesday. This may surprise some people, and it begs the question of why KMB would even sell to Spire, or, why Spire would even buy KBM.
There are a couple of reasons why Spire Motorsports would want to buy KBM. It’s because KBM gives Spire some of the things that Spire needs if they want to become a successful race team. We discussed this issue with what Spire needs to do at length in the article below.
Two points we brought up are Spire needing better shop space and a true driver development program. Kyle Busch Motorsports is truly a state-of-the-art facility. It looks on par with some Cup Series race team shops, and that is something that Spire Motorsports needs.
Currently, Spire works out of the shop that used to be the home of Alan Kulwicki’s race team. A very historic site indeed, but, that site is now over 30 years old. While Kulwicki was a revolutionary for his time, but, what was needed in a Championship race shop in the early 1990s is not nearly the same as it is now.
Now, Spire has the chance to move their operation into a state-of-the-art race shop to build themselves into the race team they want to be. It is a big win for the team, and it becomes all the more important as the race team continues to expand.
Now, this is likely more about shop space than anything else, but it does open the door for Spire to also start working on a driver development program. They could keep some of the race truck assets from KBM and start their own full-time Truck Series team at some point. It may not happen next year, but it can happen sometime in the near future.
This opens the door for Spire to get their own driver development program, and they can start developing drivers from within their own race team. This is how race teams like Joe Gibbs Racing got drivers like Christopher Bell and Ty Gibbs. It simply makes sense for Spire, especially now that they have major money coming from Gainbridge.
This question is a bit tougher to answer. Just a couple of months ago, Kyle Busch spelled out his retirement “dream”, which included running one full-time Truck season when Brexton turns 15, sharing a Truck with Brexton for two years, then Brexton taking over when he turns 18.
Now that KBM is no longer going to be in his possession, Busch can no longer do that, at least with this Truck Series team. Again, it is worth noting that, as we said in the above article, this plan was still nearly a decade away from actually coming to fruition. Therefore, it was unlikely that this plan would unfold perfectly, and we are seeing now that it is now.
At least, not with KBM. It is not out of the question that Busch could do this with another Truck Series team, and it is not impossible for him to buy back into a team in the future. He could get another Truck Series team in 2028 or 2029 or something like that, so the retirement dream is not dead yet.
From a driver’s perspective, it makes some sense why Busch would not want to own a race team anymore. He is pulled in many different directions between driving, business ventures, and now having two kids. It is also worth noting that his performance has taken a dip since he won his second Championship in 2019.
It may be worthwhile then for him to just focus on just being a driver at Richard Childress Racing for a few years. It is also worth noting that Busch can no longer run in as many Truck Series races as he could in the past, and that could be a factor in why he is just not as excited about owning his own team anymore. He said to Dave Moody back in 2017 that if the Truck Series does not allow Cup drivers to run, he would shut down Kyle Busch Motorsports.
He is now down to five Truck Series races per year, so, maybe it has worn his motivation down over the past six years or so. Maybe he just is not having as much fun with this anymore, and it is time for him to move on. It is understandable why he would walk away if he could not do what made him want to be a team owner in the first place, give himself a race car to drive.
There is a reason for the move on both sides, even if it seems very one-sided to Spire at a glance. Ultimately, time will tell how this works out.
Following last week’s shocking lawsuit filed by Joe Gibbs Racing against their former Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart, team owner and NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr chimed in with his take on how the lawsuit will unfold.
Entering the 2026 NASCAR season, most fans felt that a messy season, which saw multiple lawsuits filed between teams and one including NASCAR itself, was in the review mirror.
This illusion lasted not even one week after the 2026 season opening Daytona 500, with Joe Gibbs Racing filing a lawsuit against their former Crew Chief and Competition Director, Chris Gabehart, claiming he stole sensitive information from the team before jumping to Spire Motorsports.
Though the two have yet to come to blows over the matter in court, this battle is quickly picking up steam, with JGR since adding Spire as a co-defendant, and Gabehart filing a fiery and accusatory response on Wednesday afternoon.
Prior to these new additions, NASCAR Hall of Famer and co-owner of JR Motorsports, Dale Earnhardt Jr., shared his thoughts on the lawsuit, alongside a prediction on how it will end, during the latest episode of his podcast, The Dale Jr Download.
What’s Happening? Joe Gibbs Racing has filed a lawsuit against former competition director Chris Gabehart, alleging he took confidential team information…
During this episode, Earnhardt provided some valuable commentary on the issue, though this did not come from his perspective as a driver. Rather, it came from his insights as an active owner in one of NASCAR’s highest divisions.
The long-time co-owner of JR Motorsports said that situations like this are the reason why teams make employees sign a non-compete clause, which would prevent them from working in a similar capacity in the sport for a period of time.
“The reason why they get them to do that is that they do not want to race against that information the very next week. Or the very next year,” Earnhardt said. “And so, while that person does sign the non-compete, they do have all that information.”
Ultimately, Earnhardt sees two sides to the conflict, saying that Gabehart did something that “has been going on forever” by taking his knowledge and skills to a new team after a rocky end to his time as JGR’s Competition Director.
In fact, as Earnhardt pointed out, losing a veteran, championship-caliber Crew Chief to the competition is something JRM went through just this past off-season, when former Xfinity Series Champion Jim Pohlman left the team for Richard Childress Racing.
While Pohlman is competing in the Cup Series for RCR, Earnhardt acknowledged that he is sure JRM is racing against some of the knowledge that the champion Crew Chief took with him, be that literally or metaphorically, on Saturdays, as RCR has a NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series program.
“RCR hired Jim Pohlman. You don’t think I’m racing against some of this **** that Jim did here in the O’Reilly Series? We know that. We expect that.” — Dale Earnhardt Jr
But, in contrast, Earnhardt acknowledges that JGR isn’t trying to prevent Gabehart from working, but rather, to protect the millions of dollars they have poured into R&D.
The long-time short track racer also added that this is just part of racing in the highest form of stock car racing, saying that compared to local racing, or even the Truck Series, you probably wouldn’t see a lawsuit like this, but “when it’s $150 to $200 million a year,” the stakes are high.
Nonetheless, Earnhardt admits he is curious to see what is to come of the lawsuit, given the shocking claims that Gabehart was using company equipment to offload this information from JGR.
Unfortunately, in his eyes, those on the outside looking in at this lawsuit will probably never truly know what happened, as the NASCAR veteran thinks that Spire will try to settle.
“I think this settles. I bet [the] money guy at Spire says, ‘You know what? Let’s make this go away, let’s move on,’ and I think that we’ll never really truly know,” Earnhardt said.
What’s Happening? Former Joe Gibbs Racing Crew Chief and Competition Director Chris Gabehart has filed a new response slamming JGR as…
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While he may not have the accolades of some of the top names in NASCAR, collectors in the NASCAR community are starting to take notice of some outrageous resale prices for Carson Hocevar merchandise. So what exactly is going on here?
Of every subgroup within the NASCAR community, be that gamers, car fanatics, or just motorsports fans, there is perhaps no group more passionate than NASCAR collectors.
Whether it’s cards, sheet metal, merch, or diecast, NASCAR collectors have built a sprawling community of their own across the online NASCAR world to discuss everything you can imagine, from diecast production rumors to what collectables are fetching the highest prices.
A major topic of discussion in the NASCAR collector community this week, specifically in a now-deleted post to the r/NASCAR subreddit, was some sky-high prices for memorabilia of one of the NASCAR Cup Series’ most talked-about drivers, Carson Hocevar.
It’s no surprise that fans are clamoring for more Hocevar collectables. After all, he might have one of the most well-received personalities and racing styles in sports’ recent history, with many fans taking to his unapologetic racing and outgoing personality.
Of course, he has his detractors, as, at the same time, some of his fellow drivers have warned of some form of karma catching up to the former Rookie of the Year down the road.
But, if there were ever any doubt as to whether or not “Hurricane” Hocevar was shooting up the popularity charts in the grandstands, look no further than some of his merchandise being sold on sites like eBay.
For example, a Chili’s snapback hat that is similar to one that retailed for $50 on Spire Motorsports’ website before quickly selling out was recently resold on eBay for $122.50.
Now, a 145% increase is a lot for an unsigned, or non-race used hat (that also features no reference to Hocevar, Spire, or even the No. 77 team) might seem like an outlier, but what about a 1:64 scale diecast?
Well, prices are shooting up in that department as well, as an eBay auction for a 1:64 scale diecast of his 2025 Chili’s Ride the ‘Dente Chevrolet, which Lionel retailed for $11.75, sold for $41.00 just this morning.
If you think that’s a high price to buy a 1:64 at, what about 1:24 scale diecast? Well, this time you might want to sit down, because, on Wednesday afternoon, a 1:24 scale diecast of Hocevar’s Zeigler paint scheme from his 2024 Rookie of the Year season sold for $449.99.
Now it’s fun to window shop these wild prices, but they may leave you asking why they’re selling for that much.
Now, there are a lot of reasons why NASCAR merchandise will spike in value, and looking at the forces that are behind Hocevar, there is little to suggest that these high prices are going down anytime soon.
First, given his recent performance, some fans could see buying now as an investment, hoping that these items could pull a pretty penny down the line should Hocevar develop into a title contender.
This is similar to how a driver like Kyle Larson has seen their early merchandise (such as diecast from his days at Chip Ganassi Racing) skyrocket in value as his success and popularity have grown in and even outside of the NASCAR community.
Of course, not every NASCAR collector is in it for the current or future value of the item. For example, there are completionist collectors who collect every diecast or hat they can find for one specific driver or team.
Finally, there are those who, plain and simple, like Hocevar, and want to show their pride in whatever they can.
After all, whether it’s his social media presence, his on-track actions, or off-track persona, Hocevar is proving to a lot of drivers in the garage that personality goes a long way.
But, nonetheless, these different groups have all combined to make a highly competitive marketplace for Hocevar’s merchandise, pushing prices to levels that, just a handful of years ago, seemed highly unlikely for the upstart Rookie just promoted from the Craftsman Truck Series.
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iRacing has finally given NASCAR fans a first look at the in-game model of the NASCAR Ram Truck slated to join the racing sim’s lineup in the near future.
Though iRacing says the Ram model is still pending approvals, this announcement marks a major milestone for Ram in its 2026 return to NASCAR, as this is the first appearance the brand will make in motorsports gaming in well over a decade.
Of course, the next major question facing Ram will be its inclusion in iRacing’s next edition of their console-based NASCAR game series, which most expect to be titled NASCAR 26.
iRacing was open about its use of models from its self-titled subscription-based online racing service for NASCAR 25. But, as of press time, they have yet to announce any details about the next game, although it’s fair for players to assume the Ram model used for iRacing will likely be used in the next NASCAR console game.
The NASCAR news for iRacing Season 2 didn’t stop at Ram, as iRacing also confirmed that the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, a new addition to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series schedule in 2026, will join its track list during Season 2.
iRacing also confirmed tweaks to the in-game physics of both the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, focused on updating the series’ in-game drafting model.
But the biggest news of all (beyond Ram, of course) is that iRacing plans to have NASCAR’s San Diego Street Circuit at Naval Base Coronado ready for play before the end of the 2026 season, with the Development Update claiming they are targeting a release date sometime in June.
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