"I'm willing to take concessions": When Kyle Busch fought to stay at JGR under market value

For much of 2022, Kyle Busch found himself in an uncertain position. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, synonymous with the No. 18 Toyota at Joe Gibbs Racing since 2008, was suddenly without a guaranteed seat for 2023.

With long-time sponsor Mars/M&M's exiting the sport, negotiations dragged on, and Busch was now at the centre of the sport's Silly Season. He wanted to stay. But as he made clear ahead of the Brickyard weekend in July, staying might come at a personal cost.

"My first option, my first goal, my first set is to be at Joe Gibbs Racing and stay with Toyota and have nothing change... I don't think it needs to be that number because obviously, there's a number in that, then pays a driver and I've already said that I'm willing to take concessions and race for under my market value and go forward and being able to stay in the seat that I've made home for the last 15 years," Busch said (via NASCAR).

At the time, Kyle Busch was just trying to retain his seat. His performance on the track had been promising. A win at the Bristol Dirt Race had locked him into the playoffs early. He finished third at Talladega and Kansas, then followed that with back-to-back runner-up finishes at Charlotte and Gateway.

Kyle Busch's helmet before the NASCAR championship race at Phoenix Raceway. Source: Imagn

But as negotiations stalled, results dropped. Busch finished outside the top 20 in seven of the next 10 races. The timing, understandably, raised eyebrows. His No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief, Ben Beshore, was quick to push back on the idea of off-track distractions affecting performance.

"We've had a rough last six weeks here of not getting the finishes that we’re used to getting… the reason we're not finishing well doesn't have anything to do with contract talks or anything like that.... Kyle's put in a lot of effort at the shop and on the weekends and he's dialed in. We're all trying to finish the best we can every week. So, I don't feel like it's a distraction at all," Beshore told NASCAR.com.

Still, time was running out. And while Kyle Busch was playoff-bound, he made it clear the future remained wide open. Offers were coming in, and he was exploring every short-term, long-term option and everything in between.

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Kyle Busch's road out of JGR and into RCR: "My gut doesn't feel good"

Kyle Busch (8) and RCR team owner Richard Childress before the NASCAR Cup Series Coke Zero Sugar 400. Source: Getty

Kyle Busch's postseason began the way his summer ended. In the first four rounds of the playoffs, he finished 30th, 26th, 34th, and 36th, exiting in the Round of 16 at Bristol. A week earlier, Richard Childress Racing announced they had signed Busch on a multi-year contract to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet starting in 2023.

The move ended a 15-year partnership with JGR that produced two Cup Series championships and 56 wins. It also marked a significant manufacturer switch. Busch had built a legacy as Toyota's all-time wins leader across the national series. But he was back to Chevrolet, where his Cup career had started nearly two decades earlier, with Hendrick Motorsports.

"I mean, Kyle Busch is our 60-home run hitter. And we'd be foolish not to put everything in play to keep him in the family," Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson had said just weeks before the decision.

But the family fractured. And Kyle Busch knew the move would come with disappointment.

"Trust me, my gut doesn't feel good, and that's not just for decisions being made, but more so of decisions being weighed and the perception in how you come across to all of those that you're going to disappoint, right? There's going to be one winner, and the rest are not winners, if you look at it in that regard," he told NASCAR.com.

Joining RCR reunited Busch with a team he once clashed with publicly and physically, most infamously in a 2011 confrontation with Childress himself. But this time, they decided to put all of their differences behind them.

Kyle Busch (8) spins at Nashville in his No. 8 RCR Chevrolet. Source: Imagn

Busch started the 2023 season strong, winning three races and making it to the playoffs. But he was out in the Round of 12 and hasn't won since Gateway on June 4, 2023. He later sold Kyle Busch Motorsports to Spire Motorsports, effectively closing a successful chapter in his Truck Series involvement.

The form carried into 2024. Despite flashes of speed, consistency has eluded the No. 8 team. Busch missed the playoffs altogether last year, marking a significant low in a career defined by high expectations. Now, with just four races left in the 2025 regular season, the former champion is again below the cutline, still searching for the momentum he once had at Joe Gibbs Racing.