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When Kyle Busch Minced No Words in Revealing What Destroyed His Relationship With Rick Hendrick

Published 07/09/2022, 11:25 AM EDT

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Kyle Busch had a promising sting with Hendrick Motorsports during his initial years in the NASCAR Cup Series. He also became the youngest NASCAR Cup driver to win a pole at the California Speedway in 2005 and won 4 races with the team. But despite the great progress, Busch moved to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, and this might just be the reason.

Last year, Kyle Busch participated in an interview with Graham Bensinger. There, Kyle explained the main reason behind the tussle with Hendrick. He stated the origin to be his 2007 All-Star race outburst, which was the demise of the relationship. After the incident, the current vice-chairman of Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon called for a meeting with Kyle Busch.

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But the conversation between the two was delivered to Hendrick in such a way that it ended the rapport between them. Still, Kyle mentioned, “But, it could have been fixed, It wasn’t a relationship to terminate. Rick called me, Hey, we’re going to have to go in a different direction for next year. You’re not going to be our guy.”

On being asked what was his reaction to that message from Hendrick, Kyle replied, “I thought my career was over. Because I was getting released by the number one team in the sport. Who the hell else is going to want to take a chance on a firestorm of emotions of Kyle Busch, I guess?”

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However, Joe Gibbs called in the young Kyle and asked him why should he hire him, referring to his outbursts. Kyle simply responded by saying, “You probably shouldn’t”. Regardless, Gibbs took him into his team. Kyle later demonstrated his abilities with Joe Gibbs Racing, claiming 56 NASCAR cup series wins and two championships.

What does the future has in store for Kyle Busch?

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With around half the season done, Kyle is still looking to find a contract for next year. Not that he’s being removed from Joe Gibbs Racing. It has more to do with the fact that M&M, the company that has been sponsoring Kyle for all these years, is pulling out of the NASCAR series.

USA Today via Reuters

Hence, it’s a race against time for Joe Gibbs Racing to find an adequate sponsor as soon as possible for their two-time champion driver. The president of Joe Gibbs racing stated, “We’re still working on sponsorship, and as much interest as there is in our sport, these take a long time”

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Ultimately, Busch is the only remaining champion on the grid to have not secured a contract yet. But, with half a season at hand, that might just be sorted out as soon as possible.

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog, 'Noobs Onboard', for a while now, covering NASCAR, F1, W Series, MotoGP, WRC and the WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade now, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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Edited by:

Ranvijay Singh