A good home for Kyle Busch
After losing his job to make way for a superstar, Kyle Busch has found a comfortable landing.
Kyle Busch signed this week to race with Joe Gibbs Racing next season, joining former Nextel Cup champion Tony Stewart and reigning rookie of the year Denny Hamlin.
“Both Denny and Tony said, ‘Look, I’m telling you, off the track and on the track, there’s no one that has the talent this guy has,’” team president J.D. Gibbs said Tuesday. “And we think bringing him on board really gives us three guys that can win week in, week out, and really I think they were really encouraged.”
Pretty high praise for a guy who hasn’t always had the best reputation, due to the occasional run-in on the track and outburst off of it.
“I mean, obviously like I need to learn from Coach Joe,” Kyle Busch said. “But I say a lot of things probably I shouldn’t say. I need to learn how to keep some of those to myself and not let everybody else know about it.”
Kyle Busch had plenty of options for next season. He realized he might not be ready to be “the man” with a new team. With one team he said courted him, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Kyle Busch might have been in that spot.
“I think being the leader of a team or even being right there with Martin Truex Jr. at 22 years of age isn’t something that I’m ready for,” Kyle Busch said.
“I feel like I’m better and more competitive with myself being not necessarily a No. 3 guy, but I feel like I can be right there with Tony and Denny and their standards, to be able to compete at their level.”
Kyle Busch will take over the No. 18 car — which actually was the first car Gibbs’ team fielded several years ago — from J.J. Yeley.
Kyle Busch still has plenty of work to do with his current Rick Hendrick ride. He is eighth in the points standings, and barring a rough ride the next four weeks will be part of the 10-race Chase for the Nextel Cup.
He was there last year, but it didn’t go well. He wound up 10th out of the 10 drivers making the playoffs.
He hopes for a better effort this year before turning the car over to Dale Earnhardt Jr., hired by Hendrick earlier in the summer, before moving on to a new life.
Paying the price
Kyle’s older brother, Kurt Busch, and Earnhardt Jr. are finding out first-hand the effect of their 100-point penalties earlier in the season. Kyle Busch would be in 10th, rather than 12th place, if it wasn’t for the deduction, and Earnhardt Jr. would move from 14th spot into 12th.
Four races remain until the top 12 drivers advance into the 10-event Chase for the Nextel Cup.
Crossing over
Sam Hornish Jr. takes a break from the Indy Racing League to drive on the Busch Series Saturday in the Carfax 250 at Michigan. (3 p.m., ESPN2-28)
Hornish just ran at the track Aug. 5, with a mechanical problem ending his IRL race early in a 9th-place finish.
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