Kyle Busch on the stage after clinching the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship. Photo: Zach Catanzareti Photo, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s plan for its first NASCAR weekend since Kyle Busch died included handing his family a street sign that reads Rowdy Road. In September, Clark County addressing staff had warned that the county already has a street called Rowdy and that a second one could confuse the Combined Fire Communications Center.
The speedway’s Sept. 29 release lists Rowdy Road and Busch Brothers Drive as permanent additions, marking the two streets into The Bullring at Gate 3, with a formal presentation to the Busch family during pre-race ceremonies on Sunday, Oct. 4. Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion who grew up in Las Vegas, died May 21 at 41. His family said severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis.
Two names, one hearing
Nevada Speedway LLC asked the county to split an L-shaped private drive aisle on speedway property, logged in county records as Eren Drive, into two named segments. We covered the application and the 1988 naming standard it ran into before the Clark County Planning Commission took it up on Sept. 15.
The public accounts of that hearing don’t match. News 3 Las Vegas reported that the commission approved renaming Eren Drive to Busch Brothers Drive and did not mention Rowdy Road. KTNV reported that the commission approved both names that week. Neither report says how the duplicate-name objection was settled, whether by a formal exception or some other route.
Staff recommended approval on one condition, FOX5 reported: the speedway installs new signs within 60 days. Sixty days from the Sept. 15 hearing is Nov. 14, and under the county’s standards the applicant pays for the signs.
What the track added
The Friday night race at The Bullring, a CARS Tour West card on the oval’s new pavement, now carries the name Kyle Busch Classic every fall. LVMS scheduled the dedication of a Kyle Busch Memorial Rock in The Bullring’s park for 5:20 p.m. on Oct. 2, ten minutes before opening ceremonies, and the weekend plan had Busch’s son Brexton waving the green flag for the Pro Late Model race. We laid out that Friday card before the weekend.
Samantha Busch explained why the short track mattered in the speedway’s August announcement. Kyle’s last laps there came in a Battle of the Busches against Brexton. “None of us could have known how precious those laps would become,” she said.
At the main track, a second memorial sits under the grandstand near the Neon Garage tunnel, where the speedway invites fans to sign their names. Sunday’s plan called for a “Moment of Rowdy” on Lap 8 and a No. 8 placed in the infield grass, the number Busch drove for Richard Childress Racing.
Sunday’s race
Chase Briscoe won the South Point 400 for Joe Gibbs Racing, the team Busch drove for from 2008 through 2022, and took Busch’s bow afterward. He swept both stages and led 175 of 267 laps.
Kyle Larson finished second in his Busch tribute paint scheme after hitting the wall in Turn 3 on the final lap while trying to get past Briscoe. “I wish we could have won in this paint scheme honoring Kyle,” Larson said, according to NASCAR’s race report. He left Las Vegas 40 points ahead of Denny Hamlin, up from 26.
Charlotte on Friday
NASCAR announced Oct. 2 that Charlotte Motor Speedway will hold a free public celebration of life for Busch at the start/finish line on Friday, Oct. 9, after the Craftsman Truck Series Chase race. Truck race ticket holders can stay and move toward the start/finish line. FS1 will televise it.
The release names eight participants: Samantha Busch; NASCAR on FOX announcer Mike Joy; former team owner Joe Gibbs; former Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson and Daniel Suárez; Kyle Larson; and former teammate Austin Dillon. Kurt Busch is not on the list, and the release does not say whether the list is complete. It gives no start time either, since the ceremony begins whenever the Truck race ends.
Ten of Busch’s race cars will be on display, country singer Cole Swindell will perform, and a drone show will close the night.
After Friday, the next date belongs to Clark County. By Nov. 14, both signs are due to be standing at Gate 3, including the one the county’s own staff flagged.
Should a tribute like Rowdy Road get an exception to Clark County’s duplicate-name rule, or should the dispatch standard win every time?
Sources: Las Vegas Motor Speedway releases of Aug. 27 and Sept. 29, 2026; NASCAR releases of May 21 and Oct. 2, 2026; NASCAR race report, Oct. 4, 2026; Clark County Planning Commission proceedings as reported by News 3 Las Vegas, KTNV and FOX5 Vegas.
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