LONG POND, Pa.: Despite chatter this week that NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch may be in talks with a different organization or two about his future, Busch reiterated on Saturday afternoon at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, he’d like to continue his long-term tenure at Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season and beyond.
“We’re all working as hard as we can obviously, and the goal hasn’t changed,” said Busch. “And, that goal is for me to be able to continue at Joe Gibbs Racing with Toyota and have that chance to continue to race for race wins and race for championships. That’s what everybody is striving for. That’s the first goal and we’ll continue to try to push for that.”
FOX Sports reported that Busch met with Toyota Racing president David Wilson last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and while it does appear that any headway has been made in regard to a new contract, let alone who will sponsor Busch’s No. 18 Toyota Camry next season, his future doesn’t just effect himself or his family – but his Kyle Busch Motorsports organization too.
“It doesn’t factor into discussions with Joe Gibbs Racing. It does factor in to discussions obviously with Toyota,” Busch explained. “Definitely, that weighs on me a lot. We’ve got 50-something employees at Kyle Busch Motorsports on the Truck Series team and in the chassis shop, in the body shop, in the fab shop – everywhere.
“So, it’s important for me to continue to keep all of them in mind and all of their families and stuff to make sure that we get something done that keeps all of that going. Obviously, again, it’s a topic point of mine to keep that as much as we can and to keep that place flourishing.”
Despite the unknown, Busch isn’t letting his clouded future distract him from the task at hand of winning races for Joe Gibbs Racing and Mars Inc. and trying to put himself and his Ben Bayshore led team in a good place for the Playoffs which kick-off at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway in September.
“No, I mean when you’re behind the wheel and you’re racing you’re focused on that task and what that is,” added Busch. “So, you try to put that best foot forward and that chance to be able to go out there and score wins. The best thing right now is to go out there and show everybody that you can still do it, that you can still win, that you can still be competitive.
“Hell, if it was four weeks ago, we were talking about being second in points and chasing after a regular season championship. We went cold and somebody else standing over there got hot. We’ve fallen far away from that obviously right now, but we still want to make ourselves as high as we can in points. Get those reset points from the standings aspect and be able to go chase for a championship.”
With the Playoffs on the horizon and silly season in full swing, Busch said he’d like his new deal to be set so he can focus solely on driving his No. 18 Toyota Camry, but whatever path lays ahead it has to be the best for his immediate and extended KBM family.
“I mean, you’d like to be done obviously,” added Busch. “So, certainly that would be key but obviously you’ve got to just kind of weigh out everything that’s in front of you and see what the best thing is not only for myself in Kyle, for my family and of course too, the KBM family.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
