“Felt Like a Boat in Water With No Propellers”: Helpless Kyle Busch on Devastating Last Season With JGR

Ups and downs are a part of every sportsperson’s life. Elite sportspersons are usually better at preventing a downslide in form. Busch entered 2022 with his eyes focused on finishing his 15th season at Joe Gibbs Racing strongly. While no contract renewal conversations were going on at the time, he can’t be blamed for assuming that he would be racing for the team the next season as well. But sometimes when Murphy’s Law takes over, there isn’t too much a sportsperson can do about it. The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series saw Kyle Busch having to endure something similar.

Things had started going south much before the season’s end. Replaying the year in his head during an interview with NBC Sports, Busch commented, “That [race at Nashville] was around the same time of the year that it was known that I was most likely not going to return to the 18 car.” 

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He added regretfully, “I feel like there was definitely a bit of a downturn in competition and stuff like that. It’s hard to prove, obviously, but it felt like things didn’t really feel the same after that. We kind of went the rest of the year struggling to find our way. Felt like a boat in water with no propellers. Couldn’t go anywhere.

“Even when we did have decent runs and had opportunities to run up front or score a win—we blew up at Darlington while leading, we blew up at Bristol while running top five. That pretty much eliminated us from contention for the remainder of the year.”

Kyle Busch finds a new home with Richard Childress Racing

With troubles at JGR simmering and long-time sponsor Mars & Wrigley being forced to drop him, he was in dire need of a new team. And luckily, things fell right into place for him. Kurt Busch’s injury in Pocono meant 23XI Racing was short of a driver for the 2023 season. The team had already signed Tyler Reddick from Richard Childress Racing for 2024 onwards; they decided to bring him in a year earlier.

That move meant that RCR was now a driver short—and they put their trust in the driver with over 224 wins in NASCAR’s national series and a record 102 wins in the Xfinity Series.

A delighted Busch finalized the move, and during his presentation said “I’ll be taking my talents to Welcome, North Carolina, to drive the No. 8 car starting in 2023.” He also thanked his previous employers with a heartfelt speech. “You guys took a chance at a kid 15 years ago to let me drive a race car, and we hit the ground running,” he said. He thanked them for allowing “me to be a kid and grow into a man, most days.”

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Though most fans are more than happy that Busch has made the move toward RCR, it still is a little bittersweet because of the way things ended between him and Joe Gibbs Racing. Who will you be rooting for in the series opener at the LA Memorial Coliseum?