“If I Was Gambling..” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Takes Swipe at Kyle Busch “Mistake” by JGR Amid Contract Saga

NASCAR is a sport of change. Drivers don’t stick around for teams to build, or for teams to turn around – they drive away as fast as they drive into the team. But history is meant to be defied, and defy, he did. Kyle Busch could have been a one-team man; the operative word here being “could”. 

Kyle Busch is a modern great of NASCAR. In his 18 seasons in NASCAR, he has a tremendous record of a win every season. To add to that, in five of his last eight seasons, he has managed to accumulate at least 4 wins. 60 career wins with 2 NASCAR Cup Series wins to go along (in 2015 and 2019).

He raced for 15 years for JGR. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say he practically built the team. Busch brought the team their first title. But good things end too, and so has his association with the team. For Busch, it was unexpected. The biggest shocker, however, is that his driving shows he is still well in his prime at 37 years.

Talking on his podcast about the entire saga, Dale Earnhardt Jr. said, “If I was gambling on this, I would absolutely put all my money on the table that Kyle Busch has at least five to six more peak years. Not good, but at his top. He’s as hungry as he’s ever been, he’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s absolutely gonna prove to the world that somebody made a mistake and he’s still got what it takes.”

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With 1 win, eight top 5 finishes, and fifteen top 10 finishes, it would be wrong to say he has not performed well. On simply strategic terms, the decision is difficult to understand. 

Dale Earnhardt Jr played a big part in Busch’s move

Busch’s move from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing was announced around mid-September. But before the official announcement, there was a ‘leak’ of where he would be moving.

Dale Jr, with possibly insider information about the move, ended up tweeting about Busch’s future. Junior spoke about the tweet as well as the cover-up that ensued afterward.

In an episode on his podcast, he said, “I put out a tweet about a Busch going to an eight ball, which is basically Kyle going to the 8 car. I regret sending that tweet,” Earnhardt candidly admitted. “Kyle calls me and he’s like, ‘Dude, what are you doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Man, everybody’s speculating. I’m just jumping into this conversation.’”

“And he’s giving me a hard time. And I’m like, ‘So I’m right? Am I right about this?’ And he’s like, ‘Dude, wait until Tuesday. Why couldn’t you wait until Tuesday to send that tweet?’ And he says, ‘Send another tweet. Send another tweet.’ I’m like, ‘OK. What tweet do you want me to send?’ Me and him came up with the basketball tweet to sort of throw people off.” 

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As Carson Hocevar said at the time, Dale Jr blew up NASCAR Twitter even more than it already was. Busch’s time at JGR will be remembered by their fans, and hopefully, he can replicate some of that at RCR.