After 15 years with Joe Gibbs Racing, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch made the jump to Richard Childress Racing at the start of the 2023 season. Reportedly, the biggest reason for the switch was sponsorship issues but there is a lot more than what meets the eye.

Busch is a veteran of the sport and one of the most consistent drivers in recent history, so when he was repeatedly disappointed on track, things got sour.

Kyle Busch’s Last Season at JGR Was a Horror Show

The 2022 Cup Series season was Busch’s last with JGR and it was not one that Rowdy would like to remember. Rowdy is a legend at Joe Gibbs Racing as he won both his Cup Series titles with the team and gave fans some memorable moments. But that season did not resemble anything of that level of success. Busch was marred with mechanical failures, reliability issues, questionable pit strategies, and a lack of form, which ultimately led to him cutting ties with Joe Gibbs.

Busch’s stats from the 2022 season are pretty depressing when one compares them to what he has achieved over the course of his illustrious career. He started 36 races and was able to win only once. He finished in the top-five eight times and in the top-ten 17 times.

Busch also had to retire the car from races due to some issue six times that year. The 38-year-old was not used to this kind of performance since the days when he was starting out in NASCAR and it was evident from his post-race interviews in 2022 that he was utterly disappointed with the efforts that the team had put forth.

Notably at Bristol last year, when Busch’s engine failed effectively ending his race and season, Rowdy was beside himself. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m flabbergasted. Two engine failures in three weeks. That’ll do it to you,” he had said at the time as per Yahoo. He suffered an engine failure at Darlington a couple of weeks before the Bristol incident.

Now at Richard Childress Racing, Busch has already won three races this year and is a serious contender for the title. He might not be showing the kind of form that he did at the start of the year but he certainly has what it takes to pull it off.

But the sour taste that Joe Gibbs Racing left in Busch’s mouth due to the 2022 season has not worn off yet. On a recent episode of the Door Bumper Clear podcast, NASCAR insider Brett Griffin revealed the time when Kyle Busch snubbed Joe Gibbs after a race this season which made for a rather uncomfortable situation for Gibbs.

“Remember we talked about on this show, Kyle Busch’s reaction to Joe Gibbs trying to come up to him and talk to him and he walked off, that was a weird feeling,” Griffin said.

Busch’s first year with RCR has been a success so far. He has started 27 races, winning three, finishing in the top five on eight occasions and in the top 10 on 14. It is definitely a marked improvement from last year and Rowdy wasn’t shying away to subtly imply that.

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Rowdy Takes Sly Dig at Joe Gibbs

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In a recent interview, Busch took a slight dig at his former employer with whom he had spent 15 years. He was the crown jewel in the JGR team the partnership was just not meant to last after the disappointment of the 2022 season.

After winning three races with RCR in the first half of the Cup season, Busch implied that maybe the switch was something he should have done a long time ago.

“Felt really good, you know, we were fast at the Clash, we were fast at Daytona, we won Fontana so it was like man this is easy,” he said.

“I should have done this a long time ago. We’ve had a bit of a rough patch but I think that happens in anybody’s season,” the two-time Cup Series champion said.

With a new team behind his back and a new-found hunger to win the Cup after bouncing back from 2022, a lot of people have been backing Rowdy to reach the heights that he knows all too well again and win his third Cup Series title. Will Busch be able to win the Cup in his first year at RCR? Let us know your thoughts.

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