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51 Legend Cars. 18 Bandoleros. One night at the Madhouse for a man who never stopped loving grassroots racing.
Hey guys, Chad here with Midlife Classic Cars.
I made the trip up to Winston-Salem for the Kyle Busch Invitational at Bowman Gray Stadium. I couldn't race this one, so I did the next best thing — I walked the pits all day, talked to everybody I could, and just soaked in a night that meant a whole lot to this racing community.
I'll be straight with you: I was disappointed I wasn't in a car. Bowman Gray is a goal track for me. I've been coming here to watch races forever, and I would love to be able to say I raced here one day.
But this night wasn't about me. Not even a little.
If you missed it, here's the short version.
| Detail | What it was |
|---|---|
| Date | Friday, August 21, 2026 |
| Track | Bowman Gray Stadium, Winston-Salem, NC — a quarter-mile flat oval inside an old football stadium |
| Field | 51 Legend Car drivers, 18 Bandolero drivers — all invited |
| Put on by | Bowman Gray Stadium, U.S. Legend Cars International (INEX/USLCI) and NASCAR |
| Proceeds | The Samantha and Kyle Busch Bundle of Joy Fund |
| Theme | "We Race On" |
Invitational is the key word there. You don't get on that entry list unless you're a past champion or leading points somewhere. I watched a chunk of practice and everybody out there was top notch. Even the Bandolero kids — you could tell those were the cream of the crop.
Kyle wanted this race. His wife Samantha said he was texting people trying to make it happen, and she described the look on his face like watching a kid at Christmas. He didn't get to see it. Everybody else showed up anyway.
For those of you who've never been: it's a football stadium with a race track around the field. That's it. Quarter mile, dead flat, no banking, walls right on top of you.
People will tell you this place tears up race cars, and they're not wrong. That's why a lot of drivers don't love it. I love it. There's a history here you can feel walking around.
And normally? I'm in the stands. Specifically the drinking section — and I don't even drink. I sit there because you're guaranteed entertainment. People come to Bowman Gray for the racing, the fights, and whatever else breaks out in the bleachers. It's a blast.
This was the first time I'd ever been down at track level. Standing on that frontstretch instead of up in the rowdy seats is a completely different experience. Everything looks smaller and faster at the same time.
There were real TV networks there. News crews everywhere. And rain in the forecast all day, so the whole place had a little nervous energy going — everybody kept looking up.
It never rained. Not one drop, on a night the forecast said was basically a lock.
Ran into my boy Moe, ran into a bunch of INEX guys, and had Race Driven Performance parked right behind me. Not a ton of teams, but the ones there had brought a lot of cars. That's what an invitational looks like.
I also ran into Nate Morris, and if you watch my videos you've heard me talk about him. He's probably the biggest Legend Car YouTuber out there, he's been racing way longer than me, and he's always been great to me. Man can talk, too — he could do this professionally. Go subscribe to his channel.
This is the part that got me.
The line for Kyle Busch and Brexton shirts and hats was enormous. And what struck me was how many people were already wearing Brexton gear. Not just Kyle's. His kid's.
That's people showing up for a family, not just a driver.
Kyle's M&M's car was parked out there too, and there was a steady line of folks getting pictures with it all evening.
Samantha spoke during opening ceremonies, with Brexton and their family there. It went about five minutes and you could have heard a pin drop in a stadium that is famous for being loud.
She talked about how excited Kyle was putting this race together. How much he loved this place — the history, the energy. And how, more than anything, he loved grassroots racing, because that's where his own love for the sport started. She said he believed in giving young racers a place to learn, to compete, to dream big, and to fall in love with racing the same way he did.
My buddy Jacob Hassey ran the Bandolero race in the No. 48 and did a heck of a job. He's another Race Driven Performance guy, and honestly he was one of the main people I came out to root for.
Caught up with him after, and his take on the track was interesting:
Here's the kicker. The Bandolero race had one caution. The Legends tore each other up worse than the kids did. Make of that what you will.
Preston Wrisley took the win in the Legends feature. Samantha Busch handed him the trophy in Victory Lane, and he thanked Bowman Gray, NASCAR, Kyle, Brexton and the whole Busch family. Said he was just glad to be a piece of that puzzle. That was the right thing to say and he said it well.
Brexton won his heat race and finished sixth in the feature. He's eleven years old. Everybody in that stadium was pulling for him — and I mean everybody. It just wasn't his night.
That's racing. You can be leading going into the last turn and end up at the back. Anybody who's strapped in knows that feeling.
I actually got to race against Kyle Busch once, down at Dillon Motor Speedway. He blew my doors off. Twice. In the same race. I've got the video on my channel if you want to watch a man in his forties get passed by a legend — and honestly? I wouldn't trade it. Not many guys get a story like that.
By the time I wrapped up, everybody had cleared out. Empty stadium, lights still on.
When I was in high school I played football, and I always loved being in the stadium late at night when nobody was there and the lights were still burning. It's a specific kind of quiet. Standing in that same feeling at Bowman Gray, after a night like that, hit me a little harder than I expected.
I hope they run it again next year. I hope it keeps putting money into the foundation. And selfishly, I hope I'm in a car for it.
Three off our shelves for anybody who loves this sport the way Kyle did.
One week inside a NASCAR Winston Cup team, told from the inside. If you liked walking the pits with me in this video, this is that — for a whole week. Nine bucks.
The wildest, most dangerous era of racing, told through Pete Biro's photography and firsthand interviews. A book about the people who made this sport what it is.
The life of Ed "Isky" Iskenderian, which is really the whole history of hot rodding in America. One man, one lifetime, one sport he never stopped loving.
Thanks for riding along, guys. Go show Nate Morris Racing and Jacob Hassey Racing some love. Sign up for the Midlife Classic Cars newsletter and look us up on social, just search Midlife Classic Cars. We race on. — Chad
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