NASCAR: 3 potential landing spots for Kyle Busch in 2023
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch 2023 landing spots: No. 2 – #3 Chevrolet
This option is seen as far less likely, but there are a few reasons why it might make sense. Austin Dillon is effectively a Richard Childress Racing driver for as long as he wants to be.
He is the grandson of team owner Richard Childress and brings significant sponsorship to the table for the #3 team, and he knows how to win when it counts, winning his way into the playoffs from outside the top 16 in points four times in the last six years. No other driver has done that more than once during that span.
But days before the report came out that Kyle Busch would be signing with Richard Childress Racing for 2023, Justin Alexander announced that he would be stepping down from his role as crew chief for Dillon’s #3 team at the end of the year, citing a desire to focus on his family and personal life. He was Dillon’s crew chief for all four of his wins.
Could Dillon, who has garnered publicity for himself with his new Austin Dillon’s Life in the Fast Lane reality TV, show opt to step away for a similar reason?
There’s another possibility to consider: could Childress ask him to step aside for just one season (or put him in a seat with a Richard Childress Racing-affiliated team such as Kaulig Racing or even Spire Motorsports for a year), with Reddick on his way to 23XI Racing at the end of the 2023 season anyway?
Now, would his own grandfather really “bench” him for a driver he (Childress) once assaulted? When you put it like that, no.
But if you’d have asked a similar question — would Childress sign a driver he once assaulted? — a few months ago, you’d have gotten the same answer.
We saw how that worked out.