Kyle Busch discussed his uncertain future as he has still failed to sign a new deal with Joe Gibbs Racing or find a new NASCAR Cup Series ride for next year and beyond.
Busch was specifically asked about the status of Kyle Busch Motorsports, his NASCAR Truck Series team that currently fields the Nos. 51, 4, and 18 driven by John Hunter Nemechek, Corey Heim, Kyle Busch, and Chandler Smith as well as the No. 18 in the ARCA series driven by Sammy Smith.
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He answered, “No, I wouldn’t say it’s on hold. It’s a forefront in the discussions. Each and every week, the people that you talk to that’s probably the second question that gets asked. So it’s high up there for sure.”
“And that’s probably why it’s taking a little longer than what it should,” he admitted. “So just working through those pieces.”
Busch then detailed, “Again, so the puzzle is not as easy and as simple as it may seem from the outside. That answers a lot of other questions in my career and in my entirety. I’m not as simple as it may seem. Ever.”
“Being able to put all that together is like I said just not as easy as it seems. So we’re again trying to work through that,” Busch explained.
He later added, “This is the second time I’ve gone through this. The last time I went through this was 15 years ago. The landscape of the sport was entirely different 15 years ago. And so this, to me, I had a runway of 20-25 years ahead of me. So I had probably a little bit more leg, more runway to stand on. And I understand that. I get that.”
“But to me this situation right now is very important to me as well as Kyle Busch Motorsports because wherever this next place is whether it’s Joe Gibbs Racing or whoever, I would like it to not to have go through this again,” Busch explained.
He continued, “I’ve got six, seven maybe eight more years. If I play all this out perfectly, Brexton and I, we share a truck when he turns 16 years old, when he’s 16 and 17 and then it’s his when he’s 18 and I’m done. I’m out. That’s the perfect play.
“And so if I can align all of that, the runway does exist for a Busch — obviously, he’s pretty talented, he wins more than I do, I hear about it every day — so the runway for him if you want to look at it that way is 30 years plus. He can carry on this legacy a lot longer than I will,” he concluded.
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The driver of the No. 18 for Joe Gibbs Racing also responded positively to comments made by Toyota Racing Development President David Wilson.
Wilson appeared on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio where he talked about Busch saying, “Toyota’s resolve hasn’t changed. Kyle Busch — love him, hate him — is part of our family. And we are trying every avenue that we have to keep him in a Toyota going forward. It’s been a bizarre and challenging problem, and something that none of us thought we would be faced with this late in this season, but here we are.”
“Let me be clear, there is absolutely a chance that we can keep him,” he asserted. “And that’s why we are working as hard as we are. Because we don’t want to look back and say, ‘If only we would have considered this or if only we would have considered that.’ So we are considering every—. There’s nothing that’s not on the table.”
💭”There’s absolutely a chance that we can keep him […] there’s nothing that’s not on the table.”
🗣️@ToyotaRacing President @DavidWilsonTRD joined @ClaireBLang on #DialedIn and gave an update on their efforts to keep @KyleBusch under contract.@JoeGibbsRacing | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/j6cdDr7hfu
— SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90) (@SiriusXMNASCAR) August 13, 2022
Busch responded to these comments saying, “That’s obviously a strong suit. I’ve had a relationship with this manufacturer and this team, Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing for 15 years. That’s nothing to bat an eye at.”
After listing his accomplishments with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota Busch stated, “To continue on with that, my dream was to always have the chance of being able to go out when I want to and sort of do the Ivan Stewart iron man deal with Toyota where he’s kind of a lifer. He goes to all of the Toyota functions and all the Toyota things and he’s one of those guys whenever you’re at one of those things and you see iron man Ivan Stewart hanging around it’s really awesome to see the brand tie that he has.
“And that was always kind of my thought of being the NASCAR guy in the Toyota realm and being one that’s been the most successful driver for that manufacturer here in the NASCAR ranks,” Busch elaborated.
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“So would love to have that opportunity,” he continued. “It’s just a matter of being able to put all the pieces in the right places. It’s not as simple as a 7-year-old puzzle. It’s about a 50-year-old puzzle just with the amount of pieces and how long this thing’s kind of been taking.”
“So we’re still working through all that,” Busch concluded.
Busch previously indicated that he would like to stay with Joe Gibbs Racing telling NASCAR.com, “I feel as though I’ve said and I’ll continue to say my first goal is to stay at Joe Gibbs Racing.”
However, if it doesn’t work out there he’s open to other options, “But if the musical chairs music stops, and I’m still standing and I don’t have a seat, I’m screwed. So I have to make sure that I continue to talk and evaluate each place and each situation to find something.”
Nevertheless, he did reiterate, “Still my first option, my first goal, my first set is to be at Joe Gibbs Racing and stay with Toyota and have nothing change.”
Busch finished the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway in 9th despite being spun out by Ross Chastain earlier in the race. He currently sits in 9th place in points with 663 points.
What do you make of Kyle Busch’s recent comments about his uncertain future? Will he stay with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota or will he find another home? Will he even be racing in NASCAR next year?
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