When Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing back in 2022, it was hard to feel shocked. Rowdy had created a virtually indestructible legacy. The winningest driver in the Truck and Xfinity Series was leaving, and the kicker? The reason he left. Sponsorship issues. And that’s saying something, because in the world of asphalt and horsepower, the track is not the only place where races are won or lost.

Behind the curtains, a driver must also find a tightly-knit pack that has his back. For someone like Kyle Busch who has been in the business for so long, it is natural to have as many rivals as he has allies. But after spending decades in NASCAR and a manufacturer switch later, why does the Rowdy still feel there is room to build better friendships across garages and team trailers?

Whilst it had been a fifteen-year partnership with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing for him, a goodbye was on the cards. Busch’s 2023 switch to Richard Childress Racing under the Chevrolet banner was more than a brand change—it was a shift in allegiances. Notably, it was the contract negotiations and sponsorship complications that led to M&M announcing their exit from the sport. And so, the Rowdy lost a full-season sponsor to keep them afloat, whilst JGR and Toyota let him go. 

Speaking on the Door Bumper Clear podcast alongside Freddie Kraft, Tommy Baldwin, and Karsyn Elledge, Kyle Busch didn’t hold back when asked about his relationships within the Cup Series garages. “I seem to have a few friends still on the Toyota side. So that works. I kinda got a couple of friends on the Chevy side,” he joked. “I’ve got zero friends on the Ford side.”

That makes sense, doesn’t it? After all, Busch kicked off his Cup Series journey with Hendrick Motorsports and their Chevy before his incredible move to JGR in the late 2000s. And after that, when he signed with Richard Childress Racing, it was a no-brainer. It was another Tier 1 Chevy team he was going on board with. However, there is a team he’s never gotten along.

Kyle Busch’s rivalry with the Ford camp is well known, with the Brad Keselowski feud being the number one of his challengers. This dislike between the two dates back to at least 2010, as an on-track incident at the Bristol Motor Speedway’s Xfinity Series race led to Keselowski publicly chastising Busch during driver introductions, calling him an “a**” in front of over 150,000 spectators. As Busch once said, “Sometimes you just don’t like a guy — fact of the matter,” and after their tangle at the Jack Links 500, it looks like that’s a relationship that won’t change much. 

Not just Keselowski, the Rowdy has had a public dispute with another Ford man, Joey Logano. This was in 2017 in Las Vegas when the last-lap incident between Busch and Logano led to a physical altercation on the pit road. “I got dumped. Flat-out just drove straight into the corner and wrecked us. That’s how Joey races, so he’s going to get it,” Busch said at the time. Perhaps he has all the reasons to say he has “no friends” on that aisle.

But now working with RCR, Busch has all things good to say about the team. “The cars are fast. The guys at RCR, obviously, they built really good speed racing stuff. It used to be like, if you’re good at Daytona, you weren’t really good at Talladega. There was something weird about the two that you had to have a different package for. But guys have really zoned in on what we need for all three speedway places,” Kyle said on the podcast.

RCR not eyeing bright days ahead?

At the weekend’s Jack Link’s 500, Busch certainly did not contend for the win, but in line with a consistent 2025 campaign. Admitting that it was not a spectacular day, “we’ve been quick. But sort of screwed up this weekend, so that kinda sucks.”

He has also been vocal about the team making every effort possible. “It’s definitely not due to lack of effort, that’s for sure,” Busch showed optimism at the Martinsville Speedway. “Everybody works very hard; I know the long hours and everything that everybody does. The only thing I can really say is, fundamentally, it’s just work smarter, not harder. I think [that] part of it has been better,” he continued.

All transitions come with their fair share of struggles. It’s not such that Kyle will have all his troubles gone now that he is in the RCR camp. The Rowdy surely will continue to face turns one after the other off track as well! It will be interesting to see how that pans out for him here. Share your thoughts on his latest stance with us in the comment box below!