What was supposed to be a sweet tribute to Kyle Busch this weekend has turned sour overnight. ARCA championship contender Thomas Annunziata and Nitro Motorsports had announced that they would bring a vibrant paint scheme to Lime Rock Park inspired by that of Busch’s 2019 NASCAR Cup Series championship-winning car, which had M&M’s branding. But in a surprising turn of events, the tribute came crashing down just two days before the race weekend in Connecticut. This led to fans calling out M&M’s parent company, Mars, which they felt blocked a recreation of Busch’s old paint scheme.
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On Wednesday, Nitro Motorsports deleted its social media posts regarding the Busch tribute. A few hours after that, NASCAR Reporter Joseph Srigley confirmed that the tribute was called off. A representative from the team admitted the reason for this abrupt turnaround, saying:
“As you can imagine, the approval process for something like this is lengthy, and Nitro Motorsports has run out of time to complete all the necessary steps.”
Kyle Busch had a glorious 15-year partnership with M&M’s before the confectionery company, owned by the Mars Family, which is valued at $129 billion today (as per Forbes), exited NASCAR in 2022. That decision, which was motivated by the “other passion points” Mars wanted to cater to, ended their 30-year presence in the top tier of American stock car racing.
Thomas Annunziata, who idolized Busch growing up, felt that running the M&M’s-inspired paint scheme “just made sense.” Unfortunately, it was not to be for the home hero and his No. 70 Toyota Camry this weekend.
Fans “angry” with Nitro Motorsports and Mars over canceled Kyle Busch tribute
While Mars wasn’t directly involved in the Nitro Motorsports tribute, in cases like this, it is possible that the team needed its permission for the paint scheme because of IP rules. After all, the colors were synonymous with Mars and M&M’s during the years of sponsoring Kyle Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
When the tribute was canceled, fans voiced their concerns on social media. One compared it to a similar instance from 2017, when Axalta reportedly stopped Dylan Lupton from running a Jeff Gordon throwback scheme on his No. 24 JGL Racing Toyota.
“I’m guessing there’s a copyright issue with the Nitro 70 like the JGL 24 in 2017 when they tried to run an exact Gordon throwback and it got C&D’ed and changed, ” they wrote.
A fan replied to this post, writing, “Lowkey loser behavior.”
Another took a shot at Mars for seemingly disallowing this, writing, “I’m angry for everyone from Mars leadership for not allowing throwback schemes in honor of Kyle Busch I understand why they deleted the post from Thomas and Nitro Motorsports.”
One fan seconded that sentiment and said that Mars has spoiled its NASCAR legacy if indeed it was the one that disapproved the tribute.
“I swear, if Mars stepped in to make this not happen, they have tainted their ENTIRE legacy with Kyle Busch that they ever created for NASCAR fans,” they shared.
While one fan somewhat understood Mars’ side, they felt the company should have made an exception in this case.
“I get why they wouldn’t like the scheme being ran as it legit is just THE scheme Kyle ran for so many years just without the M&M’s logos on it, but man, that’s just a middle finger thrown at us NASCAR fans from Kyle’s most iconic sponsor for so many years,” they added.
One comment also highlighted how Mars might have sent a cease and desist against the paint scheme, writing, “Mannnn those lentils are trademarked… probably got hit with a C&D.”
With M&M’s riding with him during his time at Joe Gibbs Racing, Kyle Busch won two Cup Series championships, over 50 races, and many more podiums. One could only hope that this controversy doesn’t taint the legacy they created.