Carrying on his dad’s legacy on track and in the woods.
Brexton Busch, son of the late NASCAR legend Kyle Busch, recently went on a very special moose hunt in Maine – using the tag that was awarded to his dad a month after he passed away.
The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion passed away suddenly at the age of 41 back on May 21, and just a month later the state of Maine held their annual lottery for moose hunting permits.
Maine is home to the largest moose population in the lower 48 states, with an estimated 60-70,000 living in the state. Because of the large population, the state often receives tens of thousands of applications for moose hunting tags, forcing them to use a lottery to allocate the extremely limited right to harvest a moose during hunting season.
This year, the state gave out only 3,705 permits for the 3 week season, and as fate would have it, one of those permits went to Kyle Busch, who had applied for the tag before he passed away.
Busch was an avid hunter, thanks in part to his team owner Richard Childress and the team’s relationship with Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris. When asked about his favorite hunt and even mentioned one of his hunting buddies up in Maine:
“As crazy as it sounds, it was a bighorn sheep, longhorn sheep in Texas. So that was pretty cool. Actually, Samantha wouldn’t let me have the mount so it’s with a buddy of mine up in Maine who loves hunting and stuff like that. So he’s got it.”
Of course Richard Childress has a close relationship with Bass Pro Shop founder Johnny Morris, and the company has been a longtime sponsor for RCR. And after Kyle’s death, Childress spoke about bonding with his driver over hunting – and how Brexton was starting to get into it too:
“We went hunting. I carried him probably on – I thought maybe one of his very first hunts, and he really got into hunting. He started taking Brexton and we had other plans.”
Well after being awarded the moose permit, apparently the state of Maine allowed it to be transferred to Brexton. And last week, he was able to put it to use thanks to another one of Kyle’s team members.
Brexton’s social media account revealed that Kyle’s spotter Derek Kneeland and his hunting buddies took Brexton to Maine with them on a hunt, but unfortunately they weren’t able to bring one back home with them:
“After my dad passed we learned he was awarded a Maine Moose tag, thankfully we were able to transfer it to me!
Hunting was one thing my dad & I loved to do away from the race track, I have more hunting stories I’ll share this offseason. Last week I was able to go with his spotter [Derek Kneeland] and his hunting buddies. I didn’t get anything, but we saw a couple bulls! Had a ton of fun, and I can’t wait to do it again one day!”
Kneeland also reflected on the experience of taking the younger Busch on the hunt:
“Got to take this awesome lil dude Brexton Busch to hunt Maine moose this week. Saw plenty but didnt end up getting one. It was about way more than getting a moose. I needed this. And I loved every bit of it.
Lets do it again soon lil buddy, so proud of you!”
Man, you love to see it, not only that Brexton was able to put his dad’s tag to use but also the support and love that he’s getting from everybody who loved his legendary father.
Hope he gets another chance to bag his moose soon.
