NASCAR: Kurt Busch retirement hinted in Bubba Wallace announcement?

Bubba Wallace signed a multi-year contract extension with 23XI Racing, committing his NASCAR Cup Series future to the team long-term.

23XI Racing and Bubba Wallace agreed to a multi-year contract extension to keep the 28-year-old Mobile, Alabama native behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota at Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan’s NASCAR Cup Series team for the foreseeable future.

Wallace, who was signed by the team in September 2020 to become their first driver when they entered the Cup Series last year, signed this new deal amid a career-best four-race streak of top eight finishes, including a third place effort at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and a runner-up finish last Sunday at Michigan International Speedway.

With three races remaining in the regular season, Wallace sits in 19th place in the point standings, and he needs a win to qualify for the playoffs for what would be the first time in five seasons of full-time competition.

Wallace’s signing is the second long-term commitment 23XI Racing have made this summer, having just announced last month that current Richard Childress Racing driver Tyler Reddick is set to join the team in 2024.

What they did not do when they announced Reddick’s signing, however, was announce which car he’ll drive.

23XI Racing currently run two cars, the #23 Toyota for Wallace and the #45 Toyota, which was added this year, for Kurt Busch.

Now we know that Reddick, whose deal with the team is also a multi-year deal, will not replace Wallace behind the wheel of the #23 Toyota. Does this indicate that Busch plans to retire after the 2023 season?

Recent comments made by the 2004 series champion indicate that this might be the case. But perhaps even more significantly, Busch has missed the last three (soon to be four) races with concussion-like symptoms following a crash during qualifying at Pocono Raceway last month. Could health concerns sideline him early?

There is no doubt that 23XI Racing eventually want to expand again and add a third or perhaps even a fourth car, but the idea of Reddick driving a third car this soon seems a bit far-fetched, unless another amazing opportunity comes along for the organization — like signing Kurt’s younger brother Kyle.

Even then, however, we can’t neglect to mention the fact that Hamlin recently told NASCAR CEO Jim France that he is pausing 23XI Racing’s growth until NASCAR’s business model changes.

Would the plan really be for Reddick to be in a third car, one which doesn’t yet exist, following that ultimatum?

At the end of the day, Wallace re-signing with 23XI Racing, and doing so this soon, indicates that the most likely plan is for Reddick to be behind the wheel of the #45 Toyota in 2024, and it indicates that the elder Busch probably won’t be driving beyond 2023.