CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Busch will transfer to Richard Childress Racing subsequent season, ending a 15-year profession with Joe Gibbs Racing as a result of the crew couldn’t come to phrases with NASCAR’s solely lively a number of Cup champion.

Busch will drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Childress in an announcement made Tuesday on the NASCAR Corridor of Fame. He wore the 2 Cup championship rings he received driving for Gibbs on his center fingers.

“I will be taking my skills to Welcome, North Carolina, to drive the No. 8 automobile beginning in 2023,” Busch mentioned of transferring to the crew based mostly about an hour north of Charlotte.

Tyler Reddick, who’s at the moment competing for the Cup championship within the No. 8 Chevrolet, will stay beneath contract at RCR and drive for the crew subsequent season. Reddick in July informed Childress he was transferring to 23XI Racing in 2024.

Richard Childress mentioned he knowledgeable Reddick he’d be out of the No. 8 subsequent season one hour earlier than Busch’s announcement. Childress mentioned he’d receive a 3rd constitution for Reddick’s automobile, however gave no different particulars besides that Reddick’s present crew chief will likely be paired with Busch subsequent season.

When Childress joined Busch on the announcement, the Corridor of Fame crew proprietor introduced Busch’s 7-year-old son, Brexton, with a contract choice to sometime drive for RCR. However earlier than that, Childress handed Busch his “signing bonus,” which was a boxed watch.

Childress in 2011 tussled with Busch after a Truck Sequence race at Kansas Speedway. The automobile proprietor eliminated his watch and handed it to somebody, saying ‘Maintain my watch’ earlier than the altercation. Childress was fined $150,000 by NASCAR afterward.

Childress and Busch, now 37 years previous, way back made amends, which helped make RCR a touchdown spot for Busch throughout his excruciatingly lengthy free company interval. JGR realized longtime companion Mars Wrigley was leaving the game on the finish of 2022, and Gibbs had been trying to find a deep-pocketed sponsor to maintain Busch within the No. 18 Toyota.

Busch even mentioned he’d drive for under his market worth to get a deal completed.

However because the 12 months went on and no progress was made on Busch’s 2023 plans, he was compelled to look elsewhere for each his personal Cup seat and a touchdown spot for Kyle Busch Motorsports, his Truck Sequence crew. KBM will now be a Chevrolet group, however Busch mentioned all particulars on KBM and what number of vans it fields subsequent 12 months remains to be being determined.

“Kyle has been a serious a part of our historical past and success right here at Joe Gibbs Racing. We’re grateful for all his contributions to our group through the years,” Joe Gibbs mentioned in an announcement. “Once you take a look at all that he has achieved already, it’s really exceptional, and we all know sometime we will likely be celebrating his Corridor of Fame induction.”

The transfer to RCR and rival Chevrolet is an incredible blow to Toyota, which has been with Busch since he joined JGR and powered him to all however 4 of his 60 profession Cup wins. Busch can also be the winningest driver within the lower-level Xfinity Sequence and Truck Sequence, and his KBM truck crew is a large a part of Toyota’s dominance in that collection.

However Toyota might do nothing to seek out Busch a slot in its small fleet — JGR and 23XI mix for a Cup Sequence-low six full-time entries — and Busch was in a position to transfer to Chevrolet. The producer lauded the motive force it considers a future Corridor of Famer for all that “one of many best drivers in NASCAR historical past” has achieved for Toyota.

“We’re disenchanted and saddened that his future will not proceed to be with Staff Toyota,” the producer mentioned in an announcement. “Kyle has been an envoy for Toyota since becoming a member of this system in 2008. He is gone on to build up a few of the most prestigious milestones attainable for the Toyota model. He’ll undoubtedly maintain the file for probably the most wins in a Toyota throughout all three Championship Sequence for many years to come back.

“However greater than that, Kyle has been a buddy, a part of our household and has performed a key function within the improvement of a lot of our drivers by means of his possession of Kyle Busch Motorsports. We want nothing however the most effective for Kyle and his total household as he strikes into the subsequent chapter of his Corridor of Fame profession. We’re grateful to have been alongside for the journey.”

Childress mentioned the ambiance at his store in Welcome has been electrical since rumors began that Busch would possibly transfer to the group. He additionally mentioned when he appears to be like in Busch’s eyes, he sees the identical fiery look of competitors he as soon as noticed within the late Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt received six of his seven Cup championships driving for Childress. However RCR has not received a title since Earnhardt’s closing championship in 1994. Reddick, a two-race winner this season, is at the moment eleventh within the playoff standings. Austin Dillon, Childress’ grandson, received the regular-season finale to snag the ultimate playoff spot, is 14th within the standings because the Cup Sequence heads into Saturday night time’s elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It was Dillon, Childress mentioned, who inspired his grandfather to talk to Busch after Reddick blindsided RCR along with his plans to go away in 2024. Busch goes into Bristol ranked thirteenth within the standings. The transfer to RCR returns Busch to Chevrolet, the producer he started with when he signed a improvement driver contract with Hendrick Motorsports when Busch was an adolescent. He made his Cup debut as a 19-year-old for Hendrick and received 4 races over three seasons driving the No. 5 Chevrolet — the quantity at the moment utilized by champion Kyle Larson.

Busch was launched from Hendrick on the finish of 2007 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. grew to become obtainable and Hendrick might now not tolerate Busch’s risky conduct. Gibbs gave Busch an extended leash — Gibbs received three Tremendous Bowls with the Washington Commanders and in addition employed Corridor of Fame driver Tony Stewart — and Busch thanked Gibbs on Tuesday for “being affected person with me.”

“You guys took an opportunity at a child 15 years in the past to let me drive a race automobile, and we hit the bottom working,” Busch mentioned of Gibbs, who allowed “me to be a child and develop into a person, most days.”