Busch to drive for Gibbs, Gibbs switching to Toyota, Yeley to #21 Wood Bros-UPDATED
42 Comments Published August 6th, 2007 in NASCAR News
UPDATE:
Kyle Busch chose to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing next season and began informing other teams Monday of his decision. A source close to Busch told The Associated Press that the driver had selected Gibbs after a seven-week search that began when Hendrick Motorsports released the 22-year-old driver to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. next season. The source requested anonymity because the deal was not finalized. “Kyle has made his decision and is in the process of informing the teams of his preference,” said Jeff Dickerson, who represents Busch through Motorsports Management International. “As there are many details that still need to be worked out, Kyle will not be making that decision public at this time.” Two car owners who had actively pursued Busch told the AP that the driver informed them Monday he had not selected their teams. They requested anonymity because they didn’t reveal Busch’s selection.
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Kyle Busch has finally decided where he will race next season, agreeing to a deal to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries machine for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008 and beyond. Busch will replace J.J. Yeley, who will move to Wood Brothers/JTG Racing next season to steer the #21 Ford.
Busch made his decision after recently narrowing the field to three teams; Gibbs, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and Evernham Motorsports. An official announcement is expected within the next 2-3 weeks.
In addition, JGR will jump from Chevrolet to the Toyota camp beginning in 2008, joining Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Team Red Bull on the list of teams running Toyota Camrys. Neither Busch nor JGR have made any official comment on the move, but Gibbs officials have already informed Hall of Fame Racing that they will not continue to provide the team with engines next season, prompting Hall Of Fame to contact Richard Childress Racing about a similar engine-supply deal for 2008.
I didn’t think JJ would last much longer with Gibbs. Toyota will be strong next year with Gibbs.
Whoa! This is super huge, if it’s all confirmed! I’ve been saying all along that Kyle would be a great fit at JGR, and I think JGR is easily the best team that Toyota could hope to land. This could make next year very very interesting….
What about the 4th car!
I’d like to hear what Tony and Denny think. After seeing Toyota this year I can’t believe they are enthused. This may work out in the long run, but I don’t know about next year.
Yea too bad this hasnt been confirmed
therefore its still another rumour to me
i’m more interested in the fact tony will be in a Toyota i mean this is toyotas first superstar driver and this will also tell us what is more inportent the driver or the car:)
Why do offical announcements take so long? 2-3 weeks? I will never get that, i guess
it all to be finr tuned and nit picked but still, geez
TONY IS GONNA FREAK OUT. HOW OFTEN IS A TOYOTA IN THE TOP 10? THE TOP 5? AND EVER WON A RACE???
THEY BETTER PLAN ON SENDING HIM BACK TO ANGER MANAGEMENT CLASSES BY THE 5TH RACE IN 08. BY THEN HE WILL BE LOSING IT AND YELLING AT REPORTERS AGAIN.
GOOD MOVE BY GIBBS TO PICK UP KYLE BUSH, BAD MOVE TO GO TO TOYOTA.
I thought Stewart also had a personal contract with GM stating he could only drive Chevys and GM products which includes his sprint cars which have to run Chevy engines.
It IS official they just havent announced it yet, it’s
on NASCAR Now, that Kyle already stated he has chosen Gibbs, and will
make announcement later this week, however, I could
care less about Kyle, but damn, Gibbs to Toyota??
I just want to hear Tony and Denny’s view on this.
And if Mike is right about Tony having a contract, what would it mean?
It means Chevy is being bought out by Toyota.
You heard it here first!
so it is official that JJ is out of the 18 car
I heard that Tony used to have a deal with Dodge while driving Chevy’s
so his personal services contract is not affected. But heck, where will
the loyalties lie? Well put the two hot heads together and let them wreck
each other on the field! Just make it offical so all this rumour talk
ends!
Tony Stewart runs MOPAR power in his sprint cars.Sorry to break that to ya. I don’t like it either.
I cant see Tony driving a toyota I CAN SEE HIM GOING TO DEI and thats my story and i am sticking to it
I read this.. and got a stomach ache. Tony won’t race for Toyota next year. He won’t. When the HELL has a Toyota been even CLOSE to winning a race? Forget it! I’m sickened by this.. and if little Busch throws his little PMS fits anymore, i’ll be the first to knock his ass out on the ground.
I wish I could use the profanity that’s in the pit of my stomach right now. This really does piss me off big time. I don’t want to see Tony in some stupid Jap car. No way.
The former CEO of Home Depot just took the same position with Dodge/Chrysler. That’s interesting. You’d of thought Dodge would try to woo Gibbs too. Yeley just hasn’t produced. I wish him well. He should keep the Wood Bros. in the top 35 all year if that’s the case. But what about Jon Wood’s development? His illnesses? It’s not even Labor Day and Silly Season is in full bloom.
you no i dont like toyota but i got to disagree with sme of you guys bc when brian vickers makes the race if he doesnt get taken out in a wreck he does pretty good. you got to remember to it wasnt that long ago that JGR went to chevy i no pontiac is still part of gm but just trying to make a statement.
some 1 said wheres the fourth team i dont remember hearing them say that and if they did then thats bull for jj. and if they are going to a fourth car they will proble pull up one of there busch guys…and i think your maybe getting it confused with DEI bc i no they said they wanted to go to a four car team
tony and lil busch on same team that will be fun but poor jj i kinda like him hasnt had a great season (but neither has j-mac) but he seems like a respectable guy and he prob will keep wood in top 35 and you never know a new crew chief and team just may spark a fire under him and he may surprise some people
Sorry James, Tony switched to Chevy power for his sprint teams at the beginning of the year.
But let’s be honest folks, the only reason Toyota has sucked this year is because they have crappy teams. Two start-up teams with Waltrip and Red Bull and a backmarker like Bill Davis. Look at all their has been drivers….Jarrett, Waltrip, Mayfield….. If Toyota had started with an established team such as Gibbs to begin with, then it would be reasonable to assume that they would have run much better to this point in the season. One has to see how dominant they are in the truck series to see how they will do in Cup given the right team. Gibbs was the second best team at Chevy behind Hendrick. Now they will be the number 1 team for Toyota. That means all the best Toyota has to offer before it goes to any other team. And with the COT, all the cars are the same with the exception of the name of the manufacturer and some minor parts….take all the decals off and you’d have a hard time telling a chevy apart from a ford and so on.
This is the dumbest decision if Gibbs officially switches to Toyota. Gibbs with Stewart, Hamlin, and now Kyle Busch will make them as good as Hendrick but switching to Toyota will negate that.
Billy, thank God someone came in with a little sense here! If anyone thinks that Waltrip, Davis, and Red Bull are anywhere near the other competitive top-tier teams that would be indicative of what Toyota can do, you need to go to the doctor right now, because chances are you had some kind of recent blunt force trauma to your head that is skewing your judgment.
JGR would bring a level of established competitive teams, excellent R&D, and a serious motor program that Toyota has yet to see. Heck, all they’ve got to do is take their current motors, slap some Toyota emblem valve covers on them, and their CoT program will be identical to what it was with a Chevy sticker on the hood! Not to mention that barring a disaster, all three JGR cars will be in the top 35 in owners points next year and will have the first five races to get the kinks ironed out of the program. Between making all those initial races, and the info that the current teams gathered on the Camry this year, they’ll be just fine.
Aside from the stupidity of the “Toyota doesn’t belong in NASCAR” argument, there isn’t a single downside to this switch. I challenge anyone that has a legit reason to bring it up here. I have yet to hear one. Like I said in my first post, I don’t think it matters what Smoke’s car says, he’s a better pure driver than 95% of the field and he’ll be competitive no matter what.
doesn’t it bother anyone that toyota gets access to all
the chevy data from this year now?
see what happins when you leave your childen to run the operation. kyle would be a good fit there in a CHEVY!!! not a toyota. toyota does not belong in the cup series. toyota sucks
fyi if vickers didnt lose power steering at lowes, he wouldof kicked everyone’s ass in the 600
so toyota does have some potential
lets see if gibbs can help out the other rice burners
fyi if vickers didnt lose power steering at lowes, he wouldof kicked everyone’s butt in the 600
so toyota does have some potential
lets see if gibbs can help out the other rice burners
poor kyle, hes going to drive a toyota next season.
-chris
Let Kyle go back to Vevgas and drive a dump truck
OH MY GOD….I AM SORRY DENNY MOSLTY AND A LITTLE BIT FOR TONY. EVEN THOUGH I ROOT FOR DENNY AND CANT STAND TONY…OUCH! MAN JOE THATS LIKE TELLING A HED CHEF HES GUNNA BE A MANAGER OF A MCDONALDS. hOW IN THE HELL , WHY IN THE @#^% OH GEES NEVER MIND. WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE? LETS ALL JUST REWIND AND LET ME MAKE THE CHOICES. I WOULDA LIKED TO SEE DALE @ JGR (IN A CHEVY) AND KYLE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN AWESOME 4TH. BUT HENDRICK WOULDA KEPT HIM CAUSE HE KNOWS THE KID HAS A PASSION. i AM OK HOWEVER WITH KAHNE IN THE BUDWEISER CAR…MAYBE EVERNHAM SHOULD SWITCH TO CHEVY THAT WOULD make me happy!~~~sCoOteR
Jeff, I read your comments are started to cry. They were well thought out and you even managed to use proper spelling, punctuation and grammar. I am equally impressed how you managed to use correct capitalization and not blindly pound out words with CAPS LOCK on.
Seriously, no one to date has bothered to put two brain cells to use and give an intelligent reason why Toyota does not belong in NASCAR. If someone could do it without including the words ‘jap’ or ‘rice burner’ I will buy them a bucket of chicken and a 6-pack of Milwaukee Light.
The world is global now – like it or not. NASCAR is leaving the (big word alert) geographical confines of America; Japan, Canada and Mexico. Who knows where they’ll end up next. No one has tried to answer why it is acceptable for American cars to enter race circuits outside of the USA or why it is acceptable for America to do business outside of the USA but is seems okay to disallow foreign interests from participating in American activites or business. I’ll try to keep a straight face when someone may actually take an attempt at an cogent reply knowing they watch their ‘no japs allowed’ American-only NASCAR race on their Sony TV.
Any driver will race whatever their car owners puts underneath them. No driver has the cajones to stand up to anything for long because that’s not where the money is. The driver can run his mouth at NASCAR, other drivers, the media or whatever but they always end up backtracking and apologizing days later. Why? Because the money says so. If NASCAR decided to exclusively run Honda-powered riding lawn mowers, every driver would be out there because the money says so. No driver is going to refuse getting into a motorized steel cage wrapped in sheet metal with a particular brand-name sticker as long as the money is there.
Sorry, NASCAR is not the Deep South, backwoods, moonshine-runnin’ sport is was so many years ago. It’s time to grow up and realize this isn’t the 19th century anymore. Oh, and this just in: Dale Earnhardt, Sr. died in February 2001 and the “8″ is a numerical symbol of quantity – not a reason to live and breathe.
Im not a toyota fan but to the goofs saying jap car? The camry is made in georgetown kentucky! that is an american built car unlike the fusion mexico half of monte carlos canada,and toyota hasnt competed look why there crap teams,the guy above me said it best like it or not its not the good ol days anymore people forget nascar raced in japan non points,and busch mexico canada and cup will in the future.
Lee, even though its made in America.. no car is 100% American made anymore. Parts come from everywhere. The HQ for Toyota isn’t in America. So most of the money is still going back overseas. The only thing Toyota is doing is making more American jobs. But us Americans know its cheaper to pay Hispanics then paying Americans who will go on strike every now and then because they aren’t being paid well enough..
I just don’t like seeing this in nascar..
Dodge Charger
Chevy Monte Carlo SS
Ford Fusion
Toyota Camry
How would a Camry stand up to a Charger or Monte Carlo SS in a real race.
Toyota should have a RWD V8 Camry to be in production to have it race in nascar.
I think Toyota should get a V8 RWD car and put that as their nascar’s cup car name.
Oh well.. im ending my rant.
-Chris
Toyota has struggled. but look at how good Brian Vickers does when he makes the field. he has to set up for total qualifying just to get in. then rely on notes and one practice to make race trim. look at his finishes when not wrecked. they are kinda surprising. Dave Blaney also missed some races do to qualifying. he has had good finishes. if Toyota gets Gibbs, watch out! with the talent of Tony, Denny, and Busch. they will be strong! remember Toyota just got their first win in the Bush Series. for long it will look like the Truck Series. give Toyota a major team w/ experience. give them 2 more years and they will be contenders. you can’t start basically from scratch and hope to win on hopes and prayers. alot of people are making fun of Toyota. do you think you could win w/ no notes, no experience, no major team, with todays competition level? give them 2 years, to gather notes, and land a major team. they will be contenders. oh by the way whoever said Toyota was a Jap. car doesn’t know where they are made now days. mostly Indiana, Kentucky, and some in Michigan. by the way the Fusion and Monte Carlo are both made in Canada.
Umm chris the monte carlo doesn’t have a v8 either hasnt in forever.
I think JGR will make Toyota a better race car in the long run but that JGR will not run as strong for a few years while there getting things straightened out. BTW every time I see that picture of Kyle I LMAO, he looks so goofy in it. I just wonder if he thinks he looks cool?
Chris/Lee, The ’06 and ’07 Monte Carlo SS finally have the LS4 V8, however it’s front wheel drive. Until the last 2 years, it was a Supercharged V6 under the hood of the SS. It’s the first V8 in a Monte Carlo since the ’88 model. I believe the Impala SS gets you a V8 as well, but it’s also FWD as far as I know.
Fusion doesn’t have a V8 option at all and never has. The Fusion is also FWD standard, with an optional AWD on the higher models. Chris, do you propose Ford take the Fusion out and run the Crown Vic? What about these FWD cars that go against traditional RWD NASCAR cars? Are you furiously posting on message boards about the Fusion not having a V6? If you are, I’m not seeing it!
So what if Toyota is owned overseas and the money they make on car sales goes overseas? They are employing American workers (something the big three has no interest in doing). When it comes down to it, I would rather see American workers building foreign manufacturer’s cars before I see Mexicans and Canadians building our cars so American CEOs can get rich.
I’m with everyone else here… From the time I got a driver’s license, I’ve driven a Monte Carlo SS (with a V8, nonetheless), a Ford Escort, and a Pontiac Grand Am. I’ve looked at buying American cars since then and they don’t compare. I now drive a Nissan Pathfinder and the wife is rocking an Accord. When American manufacturers can show that they give half a crap about the quality of their product, maybe we’ll come back!
No,no,no,no!!!! I can live with Kyle Busch, but giving up the Chevrolet? No, no,no, no!!! Someone PLEASE tell me this is a bad dream!!!!
Jeff, I do believe that the 08 or 09 impalas will be rear wheel drive again, based off of the 08 pontiac G8 platform.
Lee, Jeff.
I see where you are all coming at.
Im not that big into Chevy, but i thought the Monte Carlo SS was a v8 and I know that the new impala is going to be RWD. I don’t care about ford but i thought the fusion would be at least a v8, guess i was wrong about that.
Im not saying that they can’t race if they are fwd, v6, 4cyl, w/e they have. Im just saying it would be better marketing if they sold what they try to show out on the track with it being a V8 RWD.
I know nascar is changing and it will never be the same anymore, i just don’t want to see a bunch of new companies come in and change it all around. Im not ready for all of that. haha.
I don’t think i will ever buy a car that is imported unless i absolutely have to. But that’s just my opinion.
I can’t wait for this weekend’s race. I haven’t been able to sit down and watch a weekends race since late June early July.
-Chris
John, I hadn’t heard that… In fact I’ve been out of touch with the up and coming car models and I just looked up the G8. What a dud! Could Pontiac possibly design a more boring looking car? They couldn’t even steal an interesting car when they stole the Holden. I’m shocked they can stay in business when they’re churning out unimpressive stuff like that Aztek, the G8 and the last decade worth of Bonnevilles!
Well, the 18 car went from one of my favorites, to my least favorite. thx jd.
Marty your response gets an A+ from me. knowledable fans besides us who understand where the sport came from and where it is headed would agree 100%.
BTW How many NASCAR fans shop at made in China Walmart?