NASCAR’s Kyle Busch Opens Up About What Contract Limbo Has Been Like

With just two races remaining until the start of the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, two-time champion Kyle Busch remains without a contract for next season. 

Busch, 37, is in the final year of his current deal with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and has yet to sign an extension with the team as of Saturday. Ahead of the weekend’s race at Watkins Glen, the long-time Cup Series driver spoke candidly about the toll that not having a new contract in place has had on him throughout the current season.

“It’s been hard as hell. It’s been a lot of sleepless nights figuring out what your future is and all that sort of stuff… I’m a racer and I’ve only ever known how to race, nothing else,” Busch said, per Dustin Long of NBC Sports. “I’ve been trying to do other business projects and things like that, but none of them have really blown up and taken off. So, it has been hard and figuring out all of that is certainly tough.”

Busch’s standing at JGR was called into question earlier this year when Mars Inc.–the longtime sponsor of Busch’s No. 18– announced that it was ending its NASCAR sponsorship after this season. As a result, JGR, which has had Busch under contract since 2008, has appeared hesitant to hand out a new deal to the 60-time race winner.

Busch admitted last month that he would be willing to take a pay cut and race for under “market value” if it meant he could remain with his long-time team. However, he said Saturday that there were many other factors–namely, his family and his own motorsports team–to consider when negotiating a new deal.

“The first time I went through this was 15 years ago, and it was a learning experience. It was hard then too, but it was nothing like now,” Busch continued, per Long. “Then it was just me, myself and I. I didn’t have (wife) Samantha, I didn’t have a son. I didn’t have a daughter. All I had was an agent that was helping me.

“It’s way, way harder because now you have Kyle Busch Motorsports that you’ve got to think about, you’ve got a building that you’ve got to pay on, you know, you’ve got a building note and all that sort of stuff. So, there’s a lot of pieces and that’s why it’s not so simple.”

Although Busch hasn’t ruled out a return to JGR should he be made an offer, he made clear that he wants to race for a team that can compete for wins.

“You want to be able to go somewhere that you feel you have a legit shot to race, to win. I don’t feel like it’s fair to me or my family or anything else if we’re going to have to spend less time together moving forward because we are going to have to change our lifestyle, no questions,” he said, per Long. “There’s a big change coming.

“And so, is it worth it to go run around and not have an opportunity to win right away versus building something versus jumping in something that can win? All those questions are certainly being weighed out.”

Busch, the 2015 and ’19 Cup Series champion, has one race victory this season and is playoff-eligible heading into Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International.