Kyle Busch signs multiyear contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing
Kyle Busch discusses his contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing. // Sam Cranston, NASCAR Illustrated
CONCORD, N.C. - NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Kyle Busch has signed a multiyear agreement to continue driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
The announcement was made during a JGR press conference Monday in the infield at Charlotte Motor Speedway, although terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“I see the organization is strong,” said Busch, driver of the organization’s No. 18 Toyota. “I see the way [teammate] Joey [Logano] really came along towards the end of the year and really got better. I saw the way [teammate] Denny [Hamlin] ran – he had a shot to win the championship.
“Our stuff is there; it’s all about having the right people in the right place. Hopefully, Dave [Rogers, crew chief] is that guy, and he and I can really develop a great relationship like Denny and Mike Ford have, and we can go forward and win races.”
Busch, 24, has won 12 Cup races since joining JGR in 2008. He missed qualifying for NASCAR’s Chase For The Sprint Cup this past season despite winning four of the season’s first 26 races. Shortly after the Chase began, the team made a crew chief change, replacing Steve Addington with Rogers.
“Multiyear … means a secure future, that’s what it means to me,” Busch said, adding that team owner Joe Gibbs and team president J.D. Gibbs, “were very receptive to my ideas.”
“And I was very receptive to their ideas on how to [move] further along our relationship and our commitment to each other,” he said. “So to get the deal done, to show our sponsors that we’re committed to each other - the people in the shop [who were] worried about ‘Is Kyle going to be here?’ - we put all that to rest.”
J.D. Gibbs said the deal was finalized before the conclusion of the 2009 season, “but it’s just getting all the details put to bed and all the stuff lined up.”
“I think he learned a lot last year,” Gibbs said of his sometimes fiery driver. “You forget, he’s still 24, so he has got a long way to go. It comes down to how do you control your emotions? You don’t want to take that away, but at the same time, you want to make sure those guys use good judgment and make good decisions.”
Rogers, a long-time employee at JGR, took over as crew chief for Busch for the final three races of 2009 and helped guide his driver to three finishes of 12th or better.
“When I talked to Kyle before signing up for this, I knew he believed in what Joe and J.D. were doing,” Rogers said. “In my mind, it was kind of put to bed before I was ever signed up. But it’s certainly nice that it’s done, inked and the media knows it’s done and inked so we don’t have to answer those questions during the season and go through that distraction.”
Joe Gibbs said the duration of the contract extension was not tied in to the sponsor agreement the organization has with sponsor Mars and its M&M’s product.
“It’s a big number,” the elder Gibbs said of the length of the contract with Busch. “I’ll let Kyle say it. I may not see the end of it; I’ll put it that way.
“It always helps if the driver is willing to sign on with you and the team is willing to sign on and the sponsor is excited about it. I think that says a lot because that means everybody is on one page. We’re not worried about a contract now. We’re thinking, ‘Let’s go be the best race team that we can be.’ It was important for us, Mars and Kyle.”
