So it’s official that Kyle Busch is driving for Richard Childress Racing next year. On Tuesday, the two-time Cup Series champion announced that he has signed a multi-year contract with Richard Childress Racing. However, not many people thought that things might end this way for Busch.

The year 2022 marked Busch’s final contract year with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). Due to a lack of sponsorship, Busch could not get into a contract with JGR. In an earlier interview at Indianapolis Motorspeedway, Busch revealed that he was willing to accept a pay cut to continue driving for JGR.

However, none of the negotiations worked. And Busch was involved in talks with some other teams including 23XI Racing and Richard Childress Racing. But now, since an official announcement has been made about Busch joining RCR, everyone wants to know why it didn’t work out with JGR.

In a recent press conference after the announcement, an interviewer told Busch that no one envisioned this happening nine months ago. To this Busch replied; “The only thing I can say to that is it (the deal) didn’t happen. They’ve (JGR) got other irons in the fire. Maybe other sponsors for other drivers and that’s the road we are going down. (shrugs)”

READ MORE: Kyle Busch Banking On “Fresh Start” With RCR After JGR “Aggravations and Mistakes”

The ‘other drivers’ is conjectured to be Ty Gibbs. Further, another interviewer asked; “Do you think it was money for them? That they would rather get high on the cheap than pay a champion what he’s worth?” Busch took a brief pause and gave a two-word reply. He said “Fair assessment’ and shared that he was informed in advance that #18 was not an option for him in 2023.

Here’s what will happen when Kyle Busch joins RCR

It is known that Kyle Busch will be driving the #8 car at Richard Childress Racing. Tyler Reddick, who currently drives the #8 had earlier announced that he would be leaving RCR for 23XI Racing in 2024. So, RCR’s owner, Richard Childress talked to Reddick about Kyle Busch driving the #8 in 2023.

Apart from that, Randall Brunett would be serving as Busch’s new crew chief. And there are reports of Richard Childress Racing introducing the third car in 2023. Each of the three team members – Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, and Tyler Reddick will have their charter.

While talking about joining RCR, Busch said; “I’m hopeful that a fresh start can kind of clean up some of the aggravations of mistakes and things that have kind of happened over the last couple of years on my side of things.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Daniel Suarez Slams JGR, Who Previously Fired Him, For Kyle Busch Situation Amidst Talks of Replacing Him With “Ok” Ty Gibbs

Further, he shared that he was excited to race for a team that already has a good foundation. And said that he is happy “to just be able to go race and get back behind the wheel again.” Also, he states that it is great to finally be able to think that; “you are wanted somewhere and you have people that are excited about having you.”