TALLADEGA, Ala. – TALLADEGA, Ala.—Kyle Busch finally has some much-needed free time on his hands.
Following the sale of Kyle Busch Motorsports to Spire Motorsports last week, the 38-year-old driver has lightened his load significantly—and enhanced his bottom line in the process.
The newfound freedom will allow the two-time Cup champion not only to concentrate on his day job—driving the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet—but also to continue to mentor his son Brexton.
“This isn’t the end or the shutdown of KBM,” Busch said. “KBM doesn’t cease to exist. It still exists. We just now race an eight-year-old at the grassroots level. So I guess the logo can still carry on the shirts and his firesuit and everything else. It just won’t be as prominent–or at all–on the truck series efforts.
“But with being around and traveling and going through the Midwest swing, for instance, I think we raced 12 races in 15 days or something up there. So it’s a lot and that’s a lot of time away from both aspects. But there’s only so much time in the day and only so much of Kyle that can accomplish everything.”
Busch said he was all set with Chevrolet to move on into 2024 before the offer came from Spire—first as an alliance—with chassis and support from Rowdy Manufacturing. When Spire co-owner Jeff Dickerson suggested they take over the daily responsibilities of KBM, Busch’s response was, ‘Ok, why don’t you make it worth my while.’
That’s when the wheeling and dealing went into motion. The sale was officially announced on Wednesday.
“I didn’t necessarily start KBM as sort of a fun venture for me to go run truck races—although it was,” said Busch who accounted for 48 of KBM’s 100 wins as a driver. “Back in that day, you could run as many as you wanted, now you can only run five. My involvement has been limited—just not being able to run as much as I’d like.
“Still, being there and being with the kids that have come through there whether it has been Erik Jones, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Bubba Wallace—you name them. We’ve worked with them. I’ve worked with them, coached and talked to them. Suarez, (laughs), it was literally every Thursday at two o’clock—it was like he had an alarm set, ‘Hey, man, we’re going to so-and-so this weekend, what can you tell me?’
“It was really, really fun to help those guys and get those guys to where they are. Obviously, they have talent. They’ve done it themselves but to still have the opportunity that Jeff’s giving me to stay involved, I’m looking forward to whoever is next in the pipeline.”
Busch expects Chase Purdy and Nick Sanchez, who is sponsored by Gainbridge, to be in the Spire fold in 2024. Marco Andretti is also rumored to be in a third truck.
Busch will continue as a consultant for Spire without the managerial headache that accompanies ownership. While he’s won three times since moving to RCR, his last victory came at World Wide Technology Raceway 15 races ago. Busch was uncharacteristically bad at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he finished 20th, then spun out on his own last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway and finished 34th. Of the 12 remaining Playoff drivers, Busch is in the cellar—17 points below the cutoff.
“I think when we’ve had really good cars, I’ve just over-tried,” Busch said. “You look at 2017-2018 when we were super fast all the time—I always think back to the golden days—you could drive from the back of the field to the front of the field. You could make something happen. I still feel like ‘I can do that and I can drive from the back to the front of the field.’ But in reality, with this car and this equipment being so equal, with the talent being so equal, SMT and everybody seeing it and being so equal, it’s tougher than ever to pass the guy in front of you.
“That’s kind of been a part of my demise, I don’t feel like I can do as much as I want to be able to do. Me over-trying has sort of hurt my race craft, if you will, where, I haven’t been finishing, frankly. With me in this Next Gen car, look how many times I’ve spun out and crashed. It’s just stupid compared to how it has been at time.
“I still have some work to do but I’m all a very non-patient person and you have to show patience in these races. They’re long races. I had just told myself, ‘Just make it to the end of the stage,’ and I’m backwards. But I’ve got to fix it.”
Busch’s second win with RCR came here at Talladega Superspeedway in April, his second victory at the 2.66-mile track. He’ll start 25th for the YellaWood 500 on Sunday. Despite his win in the spring, Busch’s confidence is not at an all-time high.
“You come in here with your stress meter pegged regardless of whether you’re 30(points) to the good or 30 behind,” Busch said. “We obviously know in our situation that we’re further behind so you have to race. I think it has been more sought out to just race these races and run them normally and not hang out in the back and try and wait for something to happen because with these cars, and with the way the race plays out, it’s so hard to make moves and make passes and get yourself the track position whenever you want it. You can’t.
“So you’ve got to hold (the lead) when you’ve got it. If you don’t have it, then you have to learn how to fuel-save so you can short-pit guys and jump them on pit road. There are so many variables, you just have to race it out and don’t worry about it. What happens, happens.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
