NASCAR: How Kyle Busch’s career has come full circle
By Randy Smith
Kyle Busch’s NASCAR career is entering a new chapter, with the veteran set to compete for Richard Childress Racing next year.
One of the most anticipated stories of the 2022 NASCAR season has reached its peak. Kyle Busch’s home for the 2023 season will be none other than Richard Childress Racing (RCR). Busch, after 15 years at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), will leave the Toyota team to drive for the storied Chevrolet team to pilot the #8 car next year.
After a failed attempt to find a sponsor to bring the 37-year-old back to the #18 Toyota, Busch and JGR will turn over a new leaf.
With his departure from Toyota, Busch heads home to the manufacturer with which he made his first Cup Series start for Hendrick Motorsports.
He drove the #5 Chevrolet for the 14-time Cup Series championship-winning organization from 2005 to 2007 and earned four victories during that time. After his release from Hendrick Motorsports was announced, the signing of Dale Earnhardt, Inc.’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. was confirmed.
With Busch now set to replace a driver behind the wheel of the #8 Chevrolet, his career has officially come full circle.
Ironically enough, when he moved to Hendrick Motorsports, Earnhardt gave up the #8 Chevrolet with which fans had associated him since joining the Cup Series.
While he wasn’t taking Busch’s spot directly in the #5 Chevrolet, he was effectively his replacement in the team’s driver lineup.
Casey Mears, the driver who replaced Busch in the #5 Chevrolet, had already been with the team in the #25 Chevrolet, and he was not going to be the draw that the sport’s most popular driver was signed to be.
Now Busch is set to replace the current driver of the #8 Chevrolet, Tyler Reddick. Reddick is currently under contract with RCR, and the team have said that they will keep him in a chartered car for 2023 until he joins 23XI Racing in 2024.
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So now Busch gets to drive the number that was once associated with the man who took his job. He also heads back to the manufacturer where he experienced his first win and will aim to bring RCR back to the days of the 1990s when Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Sr. drove for the organization. And in doing so, he will look to show JGR exactly what they missed out on by not bringing him back.