It was reported on Monday
that Kyle Busch will end his two-month job hunt and settle in at Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in 2008, driving the No. 18 car currently
piloted by J.J. Yeley.
The move sounds simple
– Busch’s replacement is already set at Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), Dale Earnhardt Jr., while J.J. Yeley has been
rumored to be a candidate for the No. 21 Wood Brothers ride. But this much anticipated move will have big ramifications in
what's known as "silly season".
Silly season used to
start late in the year as teams and drivers announced their plans for the following year, whether it be a sponsor change,
team change, etc. Now it starts as early as May, as it did this year when Earnhardt Jr. announced on May 10 that he would
be leaving the team he raced for his entire Nextel Cup career Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI). A month later he announced his move
to HMS, forcing Busch to start looking for a new ride.
Kyle Busch is worth more than
a lot of people may think. He's young (only 22 years old), marketable, and a very good talent. Not to mention his sometimes
brash style of driving that could help or hurt his image.
Following Earnhardt's
announcement, Busch said that he would take his time and visit with all interested teams and make his decision when the time
was right. Apparently, that time is closing in.
For Busch, the move to
JGR is a smart one. He joins a championship-winning team, driving the No. 18 Interstate Batteries car that won a championship
with Bobby Labonte in 2000, and will be teammates with 2-Time Cup Champion, Tony Stewart. His other teammate is another young
gun, Denny Hamlin, who sits second in points, and was the 2006 Rookie of the Year.
With the soon-to-be Sprint
Cup Series moving to the Car of Tomorrow (COT) full-time in 2008, JGR appears to have an advantage. Teams said during COT
testing that both Hendrick Motorsports, the team Kyle's leaving, and Joe Gibbs Racing, the team Kyle will drive for, were
the two best teams that did all their homework.
It has showed.
While JGR has led the
most laps in the COT races with Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin sharing that honor, it was Hendrick Motorsports that has received
most of the wins. Hamlin was able to snag a COT win at New Hampshire last month, edging out HMS driver Jeff Gordon.
And it was Busch who
won the first ever Car of Tomorrow race on March 25 at Bristol Motor Speedway in his Hendrick Chevrolet.
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Another big deal concerning
Joe Gibbs Racing is its choice manufacturer. Many people have been saying for a little while now that JGR will be switching
from the dominant manufacturer in NASCAR, Chevrolet, to the "underdog", Toyota.
This move might look
foolish now, with only one team currently guaranteed a spot at a given race out of the seven full-time teams.
Should Gibbs move to
Toyota, it might not prove to be a good decision right off the bat, but long-term
it will. Just look at what Toyota has done in the Craftsman Truck Series.
Since joining the Truck
Series in 2004, Toyotas have won 32 out of 89 races to date, as well as the 2006 Championship with Todd Bodine. So far this
season, Mike Skinner's Toyota team leads the standings, with four other Toyota
teams in the top 10.
Also, since driving his
entire Cup career (all of 3 seasons) with HMS, Kyle Busch knows how arguably the best team in Nextel Cup runs. He can use
this information while at JGR. He'll have some good teammates to compare notes off of as well.
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email us at scr@stockcarreview.comto receive further information.
So how about J.J. Yeley?
Some say he might not have had enough time to develop at Gibbs. Let's look at his stats. Since going full-time Cup racing
last season, Yeley has one top 5 finish, a second this season at the Coca-Cola 600. That was mostly due to fuel mileage. He
has three other top 10 finishes all in '06 to go with that runner-up finish, but those results will just not cut it, especially
when your teammates are 2nd and 5th in points.
So the face of Joe Gibbs
Racing will be getting a huge facelift over the winter months, with the team quite possibly making its second manufacturer
change in six years, as they switched from Pontiac to Chevrolet in 2003, but still stayed with General Motors.
Instead, they will bring
along one of the sport's best talents, coupled with a manufacturer that has some growing pains still to go through. All in
all, it will turn out to be a good decision for Kyle Busch. Or so he hopes.
2006 StockCar Review.
