What Can Kyle Busch Do in 2023?

by
Peter Stratta
January 2, 2023

Photo Credit to Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR

Where Should Expectations be for Kyle Busch at Richard Childress Racing?

2023 will see the end result of one of the most chaotic and unexpected free agencies in modern NASCAR. For the first time in 15 years, Kyle Busch will not compete in a No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Due to sponsor Mars, Inc. leaving after 2022, Busch also vacated the team where he’s won two championships and 56 races. Instead, Busch will begin a new era of his career in the No. 8 Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing. The mere thought of this was laughably absurd a year ago. Unlikely as it still may seem, this will be reality come the Busch Light Clash. With Busch’s status as a perennial title contender, how will he fare in year one at RCR? Can Rowdy’s 2023 be stronger than his past three seasons at JGR?

In 2022 with Tyler Reddick, the 8 team had great speed capable of winning races multiple times across the season. Bad luck however limited this team, costing them possible victories at Auto Club, Atlanta, Bristol Dirt, Charlotte, and Kansas. Those were merely issues the 8 ran into while leading. On the flip side of this coin though, Reddick and the 8 team would finally find victory lane in July. They won on two road courses just four weeks apart: Road America and Indianapolis.

Entering the Playoffs tied for the eighth seed, the postseason hopes for the 8 would be short-lived. In the first elimination race at Bristol, Reddick was caught up in a spin ahead of him. Because of this damage, the 8 was one of the first four out of the 2022 Playoffs. Despite no longer being title-eligible, the 8 did score one more win before the season was out. Reddick would play spoiler in the marathon Texas race.

While the 8 won three times a season ago, its new driver only saw one checkered flag. Kyle Busch’s lone 2022 triumph ironically enough came at Reddick’s expense. After Chase Briscoe spun himself and Reddick from the top two spots on the last lap of the Bristol Dirt race, Busch just narrowly beat the 8 back to the line.

In a quote that has since aged beautifully, Busch said that the chorus of boos made him “feel like Dale Earnhardt.” Little did anyone know on that Easter Sunday night, but this would mark Busch’s final win in the 18. Also, he would go to Earnhardt’s former team months later. Richard Childress would likewise call Busch akin to Earnhardt’s tenacity and competitive fire.

“It’s obviously been challenging for not just this year, but the last little while,” Busch said. “It’s kinda of maybe a blessing in disguise honestly, where it might just be time for a fresh start, something new and different. Kind of looking at it as a Tom Brady/Peyton Manning aspect, where they left great teams, great organizations where they won championships, and went on and were able to win championships somewhere else. I’d like to think that I still have that opportunity to be able to do that with RCR. I look at the opportunity with the Next Gen car as an easier move to make now, versus years past with previous generations of car. I think it honestly could be a lateral move.”

The saga of Busch potentially re-signing with Joe Gibbs Racing was one of the biggest prolonged stories of 2022. In the end, JGR failed to find adequate sponsorship, and RCR made room at their team for Rowdy.

Winning a championship in their first year together is the lofty goal everyone aspires for. Just how realistic is this dream for RCR and Busch? If not for the fall Bristol misfortune, Reddick would have put the 8 through to the Round of 12, where he won the opening race. The 8 would have made the Round of 8 if one moment fell differently in 2022. Had a few more unlucky situations not happened as well, they could have tallied several more wins.

Head to head, Busch exceeds Reddick in talent, experience, leadership and race craft. With all of this in mind, it is not out of the question to see the 8 win multiple times in 2023. Things may be slow to start off for this new pairing though. In spite of this, Busch is hungriest to win the season-opening Daytona 500, a feat he’s still 0-17 in achieving. Should Busch score a win in the first few weeks of the year, it may spell doom for his competition.

“It’s been a little busy already,” Busch said about his daily routine over this offseason. “Just the transition of going over to RCR, driving up there once a week, getting kind of fitted in the system and learning some of the people around there, the key players and all that stuff. It’s been good though, it’s been a learning experience. I’ve been trying to pick up on some of the stuff and culture about how they go about it and do some things. Been trying to instill some of my ideas and just get in there and get things going.”

A change of scenery may be exactly what the Las Vegas native needs to further cement his legacy as one of the sport’s all-time best. While a Championship 4 run is hard to handicap for all but a select few, this team on paper is more than capable of making the Round of 8. The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series will be full of weekly stories; one of the largest to follow throughout the season will be just how well Kyle Busch adapts in the 8. Thanks to a renewed energy already breathed into their Welcome, North Carolina campus, RCR is gearing up for what may be their best season in a decade.