With sunset approaching in Phoenix, the decision over Kyle Busch's fate for this weekend – and beyond – has yet to be officially made public.
But two sources confirmed to SB Nation that Busch would drive Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car after all this weekend – except with sponsorship from Interstate Batteries instead of M&M's.
The Interstate Batteries sponsorship was first reported by ESPN's Marty Smith on Thursday afternoon.
Joe Gibbs Racing and its sponsors had wrestled with what to do about Busch for much of the week and continued to do so throughout the day on Thursday. As the deadline approaches – that being Sprint Cup Series practice on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway – the team has yet to officially announce what will happen to Busch.
Mars Inc., which owns M&M's, is said to have had enough of Busch's shenanigans, with his suspension from last week's intentional crash of Ron Hornaday in the Texas trucks race as the final straw.
A source told SB Nation that Nationwide Series driver Aric Almirola was contacted Wednesday and put on standby to drive the No. 18 Sprint Cup Series car this weekend – a fact Almirola confirmed to ESPN.com on Thursday. But Almirola told the website he had yet to hear from Joe Gibbs Racing on whether or not he would race.
Late Thursday afternoon, it turned out he wouldn't.
Interstate Batteries owner Norm Miller has a close relationship with both team owner Joe Gibbs and Busch, and apparently a deal was struck to let M&M's out of the final two races and put Interstate on the car instead.
A representative for Busch had no comment on the Interstate Batteries report. Joe Gibbs Racing did not respond to a request for comment.
The Associated Press reported earlier Thursday that another of Busch's sponsors, Z-Line Designs, asked JGR to replace Busch with Denny Hamlin in the Homestead Nationwide Series race next week. Busch was not scheduled to drive the Nationwide Series race at Phoenix.
On Tuesday, when NASCAR issued a $50,000 fine and put Busch on probation for the remainder of the season, it seemed the controversial driver would be cleared to race at Phoenix and Homestead.
But that apparently wasn't enough for M&M's, which had previously released a statement expressing its displeasure with Busch's actions.
Even if Busch races this weekend, plenty of unanswered questions remain.
Is this the end of Busch's relationship with Mars, or is the sponsor just trying to send a message? Will Mars use Busch's suspension to get out of its deal with JGR altogether and leave the team? And will Busch even keep his job at JGR next season?
The most immediate question for now, though, is: When will Joe Gibbs Racing confirm Busch is racing at Phoenix this weekend?
2 comments
1
Nov 13
1
Nov 13
1
Nov 13
13
Nov 11
Sources: Kyle Busch Will Race Interstate Batteries Car At Phoenix
2
Nov 10
4
Nov 6
1
Nov 5
1
Nov 5
Comments
Interstate Batteries deserves kudos but Busch is still probably done.
Major kudos to Interstate Batteries for sticking with JGR. It’s nice to see that kind of sponsor loyalty in NASCAR right now; it seems to be very rare at the moment. I can understand why M&Ms is very unhappy with Busch, but this seems rather extreme for a sponsor that’s been in the sport for 15 years. Demanding he be tossed at the end of the season? Sure. But not right now.
I get the feeling that Kyle Busch is going to be out of JGR at the end of the season and that Gibbs will try to replace him with Reutimann or Ragan. Sponsors pulling out has to be the last straw for sticking with a driver. Getting Interstate Batteries to sponsor the car was probably a last-minute deal to allow Gibbs to keep the car competitive the last two weeks of the season; Almirola is an okay driver but not Cup-level, and he’d struggle coming into the ride like this.
If Busch is gone, I could see M&Ms coming back but switching to the 20 and becoming Logano’s primary sponsor; they’d be a much better fit than Busch and M&Ms. Doubly so if JGR hires Reutimann, because he’d be a better fit for Home Depot and Dollar General than Logano. I don’t see M&Ms coming back at all if Busch is still employed at JGR.
The big question is where would Busch go from here? If he’s anathema to his current sponsors, it’s going to be difficult for him to attract enough sponsorship for a Cup ride. He also seems to have angered pretty much everyone in the garage. Maybe Penske would be willing to give him a shot, or the remnants of Red Bull Racing, but aside from that he could be in big trouble.
by BrotherFlounder on Nov 10, 2011 7:26 PM EST reply actions
Or not.
Well, it looks like I was completely wrong on this front.
Mars is pulling sponsorship for the last two 2011 races but staying on in 2012? This makes very little sense to me. Why pull the sponsorship if you’re going to keep him as a driver in the future?
by BrotherFlounder on Nov 10, 2011 10:43 PM EST up reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed