NASCAR announcement heats up Kyle Busch speculation

Kyle Busch joining a NASCAR Twitter Space has some fans believing that he will be making a big announcement about his 2023 plans.

The subject of Kyle Busch’s future — or lack thereof — with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series has been a topic on the minds of many since M&M’s announced before the 2022 season that they would not be returning to the #18 Toyota in 2023.

Specifically, this situation was put on fans’ radars back in April following Busch’s cryptic remarks at Talladega Superspeedway.

While it may have once seemed that the sport’s only multi-time champion signing a contract extension to remain with the team for a 16th season was nothing but a formality, things have become far less certain in recent months, especially after a once promising sponsorship development fell through.

The two-time champion and 60-time race winner, who is currently the sport’s highest paid driver, has admitted that he would be willing to take a pay cut to return to the #18 Toyota next year, and he still sees it as his ride until an announcement is made to confirm otherwise.

However, he has also been open about the fact that he has talks to other teams about the possibility of joining them next year, and these “other teams” reportedly include at least one Ford organization and at least one Chevrolet organization, implying that a manufacturer switch is a possibility.

There is no official timetable on when decisions need to be made by Joe Gibbs Racing and Busch next year, but many fans are waiting with much anticipation and bracing for an announcement to come at any time.

So when NASCAR announced that Busch would be joining them at 2:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for a Twitter Space, naturally many assumed it could pertain to his status post-2022.

Comments included “Kyle Busch to SHR announcement”, “SHR huh”, and “Tomorrow’s the day”. Others, however, didn’t jump to conclusions, with comments such as “Chill – I wouldn’t think this is contract related. They do these [Twitter Spaces] every Tuesday”.

According to the description, Busch is set to discuss “Watkins Glen, 2022 season, and more”. Would “more” really include a driver lineup announcement — and on a Twitter Space, no less?

Also set to join is Kyle Busch Motorsports driver Chandler Smith, who is also without a deal to compete in 2023. Smith won Saturday’s Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway, giving him three victories this year.

https://twitter.com/KBMteam/status/1559234543802109957

At this point, any time Busch’s name is attached to anything that doesn’t specifically involve driving the #18 Toyota throughout the rest of the 2022 season, fans have a way of getting their hopes up and making assumptions that it has something to do with his future plans.

In fact, when Tony Stewart teased a “major announcement” last week, many assumed that this would be an announcement of Kyle Busch joining Stewart-Haas Racing and Ford for 2023.

It turned out to be an announcement that Stewart was entering the NFT space.

It makes sense, however, that many are on high alert for huge driver announcements, considering how Denny Hamlin announced that Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick had signed with 23XI Racing for 2024.

The team co-owner did so during a random media availability, and some even asked Reddick if he was in the wrong place before Hamlin assured them otherwise.