Kyle Busch will be driving the No. 8 car for Richard Childress Racing during the 2023 NASCAR season and beyond after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing due to his former sponsor, Mars, pulling out of the sport.
Joe Gibbs talked about Busch’s departure from the organization after a decade-plus partnership.
Joe Gibbs discusses Kyle Busch leaving Joe Gibbs Racing
Joe Gibbs Racing has been one of the powerhouses within NASCAR for years and the leader of that brigade has been Busch. The 37-year-old driver has over 200 wins during his time in the sport with the majority of them being with Toyota.
When asked about losing Busch on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Gibbs went into a deep response that started with dropping the achievements of the time they spent together.
“That is such is a big deal for us. We spent 15 years together, I think 56 wins or something. Unbelievable.”
Joe Gibbs on Kyle Busch’s success with the organization
It is an incredible feat as Busch is NASCAR’s most winningest driver across the top levels of the sport. Joe Gibbs Racing played a major role in that process as they helped him turn into a multi-time Cup Series champion.
However, Gibbs went deep into the situation after it was known that Mars would leave NASCAR and create a massive sponsorship hole for the No. 18 car.
“When it came up that Mars was going to be leaving, we spent over a year working on that. We just could not get things to work out for us to kinda solve the issues that we had on going forward. We worked so hard at it. There was a lot put into it, so it’s just one of those things in sports where you wind up saying, ‘Okay we could not get get that done, we put every effort into it, and worked extremely hard at it…’
Here’s what we hope. Honestly, and really going forward, we tried as hard as we could. I would say we’re wishing (Kyle Busch) the absolute best. I think he found a great home, I think (Richard Childress) and him will get along great. And we know, I’m not looking forward to racing against him, I can tell you that. We think he’s going to do great things over there.”
Joe Gibbs on Kyle Busch’s sponsorship problem and more
It certainly sounds like Gibbs wanted to make it work but the sponsorship issue was too much to overcome. However, it can be argued that if both sides really wanted to continue their partnership, a one-year deal would have occurred.
All it takes is one party to put their foot down and say this is simply not going to work out. If that side was Joe Gibbs Racing, then it is completely on them for one of the most mishandled silly season scenarios in recent memory.
But, Busch could have been the one to walk away from a one-year deal so it’s not completely on the organization. Maybe, one of the sides was being unfair but this is something that seems likely to stay under wraps.
Even though something happened to make this partnership end, Gibbs still had high praise for Busch and his future.
“We just appreciate the time we got to spend together. This guy will compete like he’s one of the greatest competitors in our sport. I admire him and what’s going to happen going forward. It’s just one of those things in sports, you wish it could have been able to work out a different way, it just didn’t.”
Joe Gibbs on Kyle Busch’s past and future
The business of sports is one that is hard to understand but it’s the nature of negotiations. Perhaps, the entire NASCAR world can get a firm answer on what truly happened behind the scenes someday.
However, this is still not how the story was supposed to end for Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing.
Related: David Gilliland Racing set for big move to Toyota in 2023
NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing losing Kyle Busch is an unfortunate situation
It truly is unfortunate to see Busch leaving Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota after being the leader of the organization and manufacturer for over 10 years. This is not how the story was supposed to end, as stated above.
Busch was supposed to retire as a multi-time champion with the organization that was built around him. He was never supposed to go to Richard Childress Racing and it shows an even bigger problem within NASCAR.
This is not how business in NASCAR should work. There is no reason that a two-time Cup Series champion needs to leave an organization over sponsorship and not a contract itself.
If the money was split up in a fair manner where sponsorship is not needed as much, Busch would still be in the No. 18 car next season instead of Ty Gibbs, who is expected to take over the ride.
The drivers with the most talent might not get opportunities because of sponsorship. It should not be a sport where drivers with the biggest checks compete against each other, which is completely different than stick-and-ball sports.
That is not only frustrating to the drivers, but the fans of the sport as the best drivers don’t get an opportunity that is well deserved. The next TV deal with NASCAR needs to be fair for everyone involved.
Sure, both sides will ask for unrealistic demands but the root of why Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing is not the two sides themselves. It’s completely on the broken economic model of the sport where sponsorship matters this much.
The dream scenario for NASCAR is the ability for teams to employ the best drivers possible instead of needing to worry about sponsorship this much. Motorsports is different than stick-and-ball sports but it should be much easier.
If other sports can do it, why can’t NASCAR do it? Why is it necessary that everything needs to be sponsorship-dependent? Other sports can do it so the excuses from the public eye seem to be money.
If that’s not the case, Busch likely retires with Joe Gibbs Racing and the story ends like Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Jeff Gordon. Instead, a very successful partnership is close to over and that should not be the case.