Kyle Busch’s ‘Reset’

“Looking forward to getting out there in 2008 and try to win some races and contend for some championships and ultimately, like JD (Gibbs) said, hopefully be here for the rest of my career.” – Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing announcement, Aug. 14, 2007

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“Alright. Well, here it is.”

A long, hot summer of speculation and questions of “will they or won’t they” came to an unsurprising end Tuesday (Sept. 13) at the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Kyle Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing will be no more.

Less than a week after it was first reported, Busch made his future official:

He’ll be “taking [his] talents to Welcome, North Carolina” to drive the No. 8 car for Richard Childress Racing starting in 2023.

The announcement came with the in-jokes you’d expect, given the history between Busch and Childress.

“Well you know, Kyle, the other week when we signed our contract, there was something I forgot to give you, was your signing bonus,” Childress said, presenting his new driver with a small, green box.

“Will you hold my watch?”

“Absolutely,” Busch answered.

Childress then playfully gave Busch’s son, Brexton, an envelope with an “option” to race for RCR in the future.

@brextonbusch showed me the “contract” that Richard Childress handed him today at the @KyleBusch news conference !!! Covering for @SiriusXMNASCAR pic.twitter.com/aeyxR4sspI

— Claire B Lang (@ClaireBLang) September 13, 2022

So began Kyle Busch’s “reset.”

As the only active NASCAR Cup Series driver with multiple titles and more than 200 NASCAR wins to his name, it seems unthinkable that Busch would race anywhere but JGR.

But if we’ve learned anything from the last few years — Brad Keselowski moving to RFK Racing and Michael Jordan and Pitbull becoming team owners — it’s to expect the unexpected and that nothing lasts forever.

So here we are.

“The last few months have been nothing but stressful, I’ll admit, and it’s been 15 years since I’ve had to make a decision quite like this,” Busch said. “But 15 years ago, it was just me. You know, I didn’t have a family. I didn’t have a wife and a son and a daughter and a race team around me that I had to worry about. It was just what I needed to do.

“So this process took a lot longer than I expected it to, sure it did. […] This is one of the most important decisions of my life. And I definitely couldn’t rush through it. I had to find a place where I knew I can go win races…