Kyle Busch inks contract extension

HUNTERSVILLE, NC

Kyle Busch will be battling in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for the foreseeable future.

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Gibbs announced during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday that Busch, 27, will continue driving the No 18 M&Ms Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series as well as running a 25-race schedule in the Nationwide Series with No. 54 Monster Energy car.

“The bad news is we work for him and we’re broke,” team owner Joe Gibbs said. “(Team President) J.D. (Gibbs) and I are taking the nightshift up at the corner.”

Busch has 10 poles and 24 career Cup wins. He finished 13th last season in the Cup standings and qualified for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in five of the eight seasons that he’s been eligible to compete in the program.

“It’s something that’s really exciting and we’ve been working on for a long time,” Busch said. “I’ve probably taken off a few years of Coach’s life, but hopefully not. I’ll repay it somehow — maybe with some championships. But really a lot of things went into this negotiation in the offseason.

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“We’ve re-signed for multi-years — part of the agreement is that I’ve brought over the Monster (sponsorship). Joe was adamant about me racing his Nationwide cars out of his place at Joe Gibbs Racing. So as part of my deal, I’ll be rejoining forces with (crew chief) Adam Stevens. We’ll fill out the rest of the races with some younger talent to get out there for us and fill in the non-companion races. I’m really excited about that being a part of JGR and this family for a long-time to come ... and being able to capitalize on some more success in the Cup series and ultimately contend with (new teammate Matt Kenseth) for championships, hopefully.”

Kenseth replied, “That was part of the deal. He got all the money. I got all the good stuff.”

Busch will also compete in at least 10 races for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports, which has inked an agreement with Joe Gibbs Racing to supply all engines for KBM's Nationwide and Camping World Truck series programs.