Kyle Busch (Rusty Jones/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 19, 2026) – Late NASCAR icon Kyle Busch, who passed away suddenly May 21 from complications of pneumonia and sepsis, has been named a special MillerTech Power Performance Award honoree for the week of May 18-24 by the Steering Wheel Nation staff.

The decision was revealed during Tuesday’s special post-Memorial Day taping of the Tom Baker Show for POWERtube TV.

Busch’s recognition is in honor of his decorated racing career, tragically cut short ahead of last weekend’s 67th Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, an event he won in dominant fashion back in 2018.

A surefire NASCAR Hall of Famer with 63 NASCAR Cup Series victories and two Cup Series championships (2015, ’19), Busch owns the all-time records for the most combined NASCAR national series wins (234), NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series wins (102), and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins (69) in history.

He made his Cup Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports in 2005, and later spent time with Joe Gibbs Racing (2008-’22) and Richard Childress Racing (2023-’26).

Busch also started his own Truck Series team in 2010, which operated until the end of the 2023 season and set all-time records for wins (100) and poles (70) by a single organization during its tenure.

Outside of NASCAR, Busch won numerous super late model races on pavement, including two Snowball Derbys as a driver (2009, ‘17) and two more as an owner (2013 with Erik Jones and 2018 with Noah Gragson), the Slinger Nationals at Slinger (Wis.) Super Speedway, Oxford 250 at Oxford (Maine) Plains Speedway, and more.

SWN’s team of media analysts present several candidates for the weekly award at the end of each racing weekend, both in social media polls on Sunday nights as well as Mondays during the Tom Baker Show.

A combination of fan-vote input and selections from the SWN crew determine the MillerTech Power Performance Award winner for each week, finalized each Monday night following the taping of that week’s Tom Baker Show.

Because of the special nature of Busch’s MillerTech Power Performance Award, no other specific nominees were chosen for the week of May 18-24.

However, additional motorsports notables from the week that Steering Wheel Nation wishes to shout out include:

– Felix Rosenqvist, who won his first Indianapolis 500 for Meyer Shank Racing Sunday in the closest finish in the 110-year history of the event, defeating Team Penske’s David Malukas by .0233 seconds.

– Daniel Suarez, who won his first NASCAR Cup Series race in more than two years Sunday by topping the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, his first victory since joining Spire Motorsports.

– Aaron Reutzel, who pushed his sprint car run of success to six wins in his last eight 410 starts with a Saturday-night World of Outlaws victory at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway.

– Bobby Pierce, who charged from 20th on the starting grid to win the crown-jewel Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Show-Me 100 Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway, banking $75,000 for his second straight win in the event.

For more information on MillerTech Energy, a proud supporter of Steering Wheel Nation’s motorsports coverage, visit them on the web at MillerTechEnergy.com.