Editor’s Note: This story is included in The Athletic’s Best of 2022. View the full list.
Kyle Busch will join Richard Childress Racing in 2023, multiple sources told The Athletic, ending a highly successful tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing that saw the driver-team pairing win two Cup Series championships and 56 races over a 15-year span. An official announcement is expected Tuesday.
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Busch is making the move following prolonged negotiations with JGR and several teams that led to much discourse on which team he’d sign with. The 37-year-old Busch is in the final season of a multiyear contract with JGR and the two sides had been negotiating a contract extension for some time. However, those discussions were hampered because JGR had not secured a primary sponsor for Busch’s No. 18 team beyond this season.
The team’s current primary sponsor, Mars Inc., is leaving JGR at the conclusion of the 2022 season after sponsoring Busch since he began his tenure with JGR in 2008. JGR has known of Mars’ eventual departure since last summer and has been working to find a replacement. That search complicated discussions with Busch regarding a contract extension as the team was uncertain what it could commit financially to re-signing Busch. Throughout the summer JGR, Toyota and Busch have publicly discussed frustration with the process and their desire to agree to an extension while acknowledging that a deal may not be able to be reached unless adequate sponsorship was in place.
“You’ve gotta have sponsorship in this sport to be able to go forward,” Busch said on July 30. “It’s not as simple as being a basketball player and being a Michael Jordan or a LeBron James and being a really good player and the team losing a sponsor and then saying, ‘OK, Michael, LeBron, we gotta let you go because we can’t afford you.’”
David Wilson, Toyota Racing Development president, told The Athletic on July 30: “The driving issue, the underlying issue, is his sponsorship and the departure of Mars. That is the biggest issue, and until that is solved to whatever degree — because that dictates everything else; it dictates salary, dictates everything else that comes. But that’s the keystone. We have to find that and place that keystone first.”
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It’s unclear if Richard Childress Racing has lined up sponsorship for Busch.
As rumors swirled of his potential move to RCR, Busch said Saturday at Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday’s Cup race, that he had no news to share. “We’re still working on it behind the scenes trying to put it all together,” he said.
Busch and team owner Richard Childress have had contentions moments between them previously. In 2011, Childress got into an altercation with Busch in the garage, also at Kansas Speedway, that resulted in NASCAR fining Childress $150,000 and placing him on probation for the rest of the season.
“The first time I sat down with him,” Busch said when asked how he could consider driving for Childress in light of their history, “everything was OK and the biggest thing about it was just having the opportunity to put that behind us.”
JGR is expected to name 19-year-old Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs’ grandson, to replace Busch as the driver of its No. 18 Toyota. Ty Gibbs is considered a rising star in NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series.
Busch is widely recognized as one of the most talented drivers of his era. He is the only active multi-time Cup champion, and his 60 career wins are tied for ninth-best all time with the still-active Kevin Harvick. Busch’s wins include triumphs in NASCAR crown jewel events the Brickyard 400 (twice), Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. He also earned Toyota its first Cup win (Atlanta, 2008) and first championship (2015).
But despite Busch’s vast on-track success, his time with JGR has featured plenty of less than stellar moments. NASCAR suspended him for one Cup race for intentionally wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution during a 2011 Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. He’s amassed several fines for his behavior including directing an obscene gesture at an official during a 2010 Cup race at Texas and for recklessly driving through the garage after crashing out of a 2021 playoff race at Darlington Raceway.
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Busch’s sometimes brash behavior and outspokenness have made him a driver many fans dislike. He is frequently greeted with loud jeers during driver introductions and the same reception often greets him after he wins a race.
Despite the trials and tribulations that Busch has put his team through, Joe Gibbs has maintained support for Busch throughout, and few expected that Busch would leave the organization owned by the three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach, NFL Hall of Famer and NASCAR Hall of Famer. JGR is one of NASCAR’s preeminent teams and can provide Busch the caliber of resources and equipment he needs to regularly contend for wins and championships.
But as the sponsorship search stretched out, combined with Busch and JGR unable to come to terms on a new contract and Ty Gibbs’ continued emergence, the likelihood increased throughout the summer that Busch would end up leaving. He publicly acknowledged in late July that while his preference was to remain with JGR, he was speaking to other teams lest he would be left without a ride for the 2023 season.
Busch joins a two-car RCR team that has Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick under contract for next season. RCR will presumably expand to three cars to accommodate Busch’s arrival, though the team could negotiate a buyout of Reddick’s contract that has one year remaining after Reddick announced earlier this year that he’s leaving to join 23XI Racing in 2024.
Related reading
Jordan Bianchi: How Kyle Busch’s 15-year, two-title run with Joe Gibbs Racing came to an end
(Photo: Mike Dinovo / USA Today)
