Corey LaJoie Reveals the $6 Million Issue With Kyle Busch Leaving JGR for Stewart-Haas Racing

Published 05/02/2022, 6:30 AM EDT

For the past week or so, Kyle Busch has been dominating the NASCAR headlines. To be more precise, they are referring to his future in NASCAR and in Joe Gibbs Racing. Especially in the wake of M&M’s departure at the end of the season. One candidate that has cropped up multiple times, is Stewart-Haas Racing. Since Aric Almirola announced his retirement at the end of the current campaign, the #10 seat is up for grabs.

However, in the Stacking Pennies podcast, Corey LaJoie highlighted a glaring issue. He said, “There’s too many layers to the Toyota-Joe Gibbs-Kyle Busch conversation enough to figure it out. If Ford wants to figure out how to put Busch in the #10 car, it’s not only just paying him upwards at eight figures to drive that #10 car.”

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“It’s also paying Kyle Busch Motorsports $6 million to swap over all their trucks. Toyota loses all their feeder cars in the Truck Series to develop talent.”

What does all of this mean for Kyle Busch?

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At 37 years old, Busch is not a spring chicken, but is still showing signs of competitiveness. Last month, he snatched victory at the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt race to cement his Playoff berth. This puts him in the championship hunt, no matter what happens in the remainder of the regular season. On a more minor basis, he is on the verge of breaking a record for the most consecutive seasons with a win.

For now, the #18 driver is focused on the remainder of the 2022 NASCAR Cup season. He will be eager to stop the Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut from racking up another championship. At the same time, Busch is gunning for a third Cup Series title to add to his 2015 and 2019 crowns.

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The big question is, with Joe Gibbs Racing manage to attract a new sponsor to pair Busch up with, or will be forced to look elsewhere for a seat?

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Written by:

Dhruv George is a senior Motorsports author for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.

Edited by:

Pritam Priyedarshi