Kyle Busch made the move to Richard Childress Racing, after not being able to secure a long-term contract for the future with his current team, Joe Gibbs Racing. However, apparently, Denny Hamlin had tried to convince his 15-year-long teammate to move into 23XI Racing. During a conversation with Danica Patrick on her podcast, Hamlin revealed what went down between the pair.

Hamlin stated, “I did yeah, I wanted to keep him in the Toyota family because I felt he was better within our organization than he was outside. I’d better race with him than against him. So I did speak with Kyle and we got some conversations going. You know the tough part for our organization was that we couldn’t guarantee any long-term contract. I think we could offer something short-term, but with the unknowns of Kurt’s status for next year and the following year. I knew that I needed a placeholder in there just in case.”

Hamlin also stated that he apparently asked Busch to trust him and give him the chance to work on selling him, in the hopes that it would bring forth the possibility of a long-term contract. He also made it clear that if he was unable to sell Busch, realistically no one else could either. Hamlin wished that Busch had given him the chance, but he understands that the two-time champion was out looking for stability in his career and possibly that would have been the reason for his move into RCR.

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Hamlin added, “I think that he saw it as a lateral move. He saw how competitive Tyler Reddick has been in the eight-car this year and I think that he sees this as a chance for him to win right away and go long-term deal to put numbers on the table that he was comfortable with for long term. But it’s unfortunate for us to lose him but because yes I went after Kyle because I admire his talent.”

What led to the breakdown with JGR for Kyle Busch?

Kyle Busch’s issues began when his long-time sponsor M&M’s decided to exit the sport indefinitely at the end of the season.

That in turn brought up the question as to who would continue to sponsor Busch from 2023 onwards. As time went by JGR was not able to secure anything for the veteran two-time Cup Series Champion. Frustrations grew higher and then Busch ran out of patience and knocked on the door of RCR.

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Soon it was announced that Kyle Busch had secured a long-term deal with RCR and would be exiting his 15-year-long partnership with JGR at the end of this season.