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Kyle Busch’s Special Paint Scheme to Honor Service Members at Dover Air Force Base

Originally posted on The SportsRush | By Jerry Bonkowski | Last updated Jul 20, 2025 9:23 AM ET

Kyle Busch may never have served in the military, but the Richard Childress Racing driver has long been a big supporter of our fighting men and women. So it’s no surprise that Busch’s No. 8 RCR Chevrolet will sport a special red, white, and blue paint scheme for Sunday’s race at Dover Motor Speedway.

Dover Air Force Base is only six miles away from Dover Motor Speedway and always draws a significant number of fans in the stands who are in the military or served previously.

Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen restaurant chain has partnered with Busch and RCR to honor current service members as well as veterans who either currently work or previously worked at a Cheddar’s location.

“We wanted to give honor to the service members that are over here at Dover Air Force Base, with Dover being the next race on the Cheddar’s calendar (part of Cheddar’s season-long sponsorship with RCR),” Busch said. “And so, Cheddar’s has painted their car red, white, and blue for this weekend, also in honor of veterans that have or do work at Cheddar’s.

“There are 67 names on the deck lid this weekend, and we’re here to honor those, but also paid a visit over to the military base to help honor some more that were over there.”

There is nothing better than a red, white & blue @cheddarskitchen Chevrolet. pic.twitter.com/4zLJsOML1u

— RCR (@RCRracing) July 18, 2025

Busch has paid a number of visits over the years to military bases. His most recent visit was on Friday at Dover Air Force Base.

“It’s always enjoyable to be able to go and spend some time with our service members, their passion for the sport and what they enjoy to see going around the racetrack on Sundays,” Busch said. “It was really, really cool to just spend some time with them, sign some autographs, take some pictures.

“There was a foreign exchange student group that was there as well, that got to spend some time checking out the race car and looking around on that. It was a really good piece by Cheddar’s. We appreciate them serving lunch for everyone as well and made it a good time for everyone.”

Busch is hoping for another good time for himself and in support of both the military members and Cheddar’s employees on Sunday at the one-mile “Monster Mile.” After all, he’s a three-time winner at the all-concrete oval.

Sunday is a pivotal race for Busch’s playoff hopes

This is a very pivotal race for the former two-time Cup champion. He has not won a Cup race since 2023, a 77-race winless streak and the longest of his career. Including Sunday, there are only six races left for Busch to qualify for this season’s 10-race playoffs.

A win on Sunday or in the other five remaining regular season races would punch the 40-year-old driver’s ticket into the playoffs. While Busch is 15^th in the Cup standings coming into Sunday’s race, that’s somewhat deceiving.

Technically, he’s two positions out of playoff contention, as Josh Berry, Austin Cindric, and Shane van Gisbergen each have at least one win that secures them a playoff spot ahead of him, despite being behind him in the standings.

This article first appeared on The SportsRush and was syndicated with permission.

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