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Kyle Busch had his option picked up by Richard Childress Racing on Saturday, keeping the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion with the organization through the 2026 season.

Busch, 40, has won 63 Cup Series races since joining the circuit in 2003. However, his last victory came in St. Louis on June 4, 2023.

“This has extended our contract out another year, and we’re really excited,” team owner Richard Childress said. “You know, Kyle has been great to work with. Everybody had questions going in. I love a driver that (doesn’t) like to lose, and we’ve worked hard. We’ve got some exciting things coming up.

“He and I are both alike in one area that we don’t like to lose; we want to win races. I still think that Kyle will win him a championship, and we want it to happen at RCR and that’s our plans. We got a lot of new things coming. This car is a lot different. It’s so engineer-driven that we’re stepping our engineering up more, and I’m excited about the future.”

Although mired in a 69-race winless streak, Busch feels there are plenty of good times ahead.

“I give a lot of credit to Richard and him believing in me and giving me the opportunity to be able to come over here and have a chance to drive his car,” Busch said. “So for me, rewarding him with that and having the success on the race track is paramount. Being able to continue on when I first joined, I feel like there were some things that we were doing within the rules at that time that got us some extra speed, and then, there was definitely some things that came down that they didn’t like us doing.

“So that’s sort of where we’ve lost a little bit if people are wondering, why have we not been able to win like we did in the first 16 races. It’s just a matter of being able to continue to work with the people that are there. It’s a great culture. I enjoy working there. I fit in well there. They enjoy having me there.”

Busch won Cup Series championships in 2015 and 2019.

–Field Level Media