CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch will move to Richard Childress Racing next season, ending a 15-year career with Joe Gibbs Racing because the team could not come to terms with NASCAR’s only active multiple Cup champion.
Busch will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Childress in an announcement made Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He wore the two Cup championship rings he won driving for Gibbs on his middle fingers.
“I’ll be taking my talents to Welcome, North Carolina to drive the No. 8 car starting in 2023,” Busch said of moving to the team based about an hour north of Charlotte.
Tyler Reddick, who is currently competing for the Cup championship in the No. 8 Chevrolet, will remain under contract at RCR and drive for the team next season. Reddick in July told Childress he was moving to 23XI Racing in 2024.
Richard Childress said he informed Reddick he’d be out of the No. 8 next season one hour before Busch’s announcement. Childress said he’d obtain a third charter for Reddick’s car.
When Childress joined Busch at the announcement he presented Busch’s 7-year-old son, Brexton, with a contract option to someday drive for RCR. But before that, Childress handed Busch his “signing bonus,” which was a boxed watch.
Childress in 2011 tussled with Busch after a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. The car owner removed his watch and handed it to someone, saying ‘Hold my watch’ before the altercation. Childress was fined $150,000 by NASCAR afterward.
The Hall of Fame team owner and Busch long ago made amends, which helped make RCR a landing spot for Busch during his excruciatingly long free agency period. JGR learned longtime partner Mars Wrigley was leaving the sport at the end of 2022, and Gibbs had been searching for a deep-pocketed sponsor to keep Busch in the No. 18 Toyota.
Busch even said he’d drive for below his market value to get a deal done.
But as the year went on and no progress was made on Busch’s 2023 plans, he was forced to look elsewhere for both his own Cup seat and a landing spot for Kyle Busch Motorsports, his Truck Series team which will now be a Chevrolet organization. Busch said all details on KBM and how many trucks it fields next year is still being decided.
The move to RCR is a tremendous blow to Toyota, which has been with Busch since he joined JGR and powered him to all but four of his 60 career Cup wins. Busch is also the winningest driver in the lower-level Xfinity Series and Truck Series, and his KBM truck team is a massive part of Toyota’s dominance in that series.
But Toyota could do nothing to find Busch a slot in its small fleet — JGR and 23XI combine for a Cup Series low six full-time entries — and Busch was able to move to Chevrolet.
Childress said the atmosphere at his shop in Welcome has been electric since rumors started that Busch might move to the organization. He also said when he looks in Busch’s eyes, he sees the same fiery look of competition he once saw in the late Dale Earnhardt.
Earnhardt won six of his seven Cup championships driving for Childress. RCR has not won a Cup title since Earnhardt, but has both Reddick and Austin Dillon, Childress’ grandson, in this year’s playoff field.
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