Kyle Busch not doing any truck or Nationwide races in 2012?

[4WideRacing]

Kyle Busch may not run Nationwide in 2012: Kyle Busch is unlikely to compete in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2012, at the request of Joe Gibbs Racing and their Sprint Cup Series sponsor, M&Ms. Kyle Busch Motorsports General Manager Rick Ren confirmed today that there is "a high probability" that Busch will withdraw from the 2012 Truck Series. "That topic is being discussed almost constantly around here right now," he said, adding, "It is not necessarily something that Kyle chose. If he doesn't run Trucks this year, it will be at the request (of JGR). Not by demand, but by request. Things change on an hour-by-hour basis," said Ren today, "but if I had to answer you right now, I'd say he will probably not race in the Truck Series next year. There is a possibility of him running no Nationwide races under certain circumstances, as well. There are a lot of things being discussed right now, which makes it pretty tough on me. I've been trying to figure out whether Kyle's going to be available to run our Trucks and Nationwide cars, then determine whether the individual sponsors will stay around without him behind the wheel." Ren said many of the team's sponsors came aboard with the understanding that Busch would drive a specified number of races in their entries. How, with Busch's participation uncertain at best, many of those negotiations are back to square one. I believe Kyle will drive a KBM Nationwide Series Toyota in a certain number of races next year," said Ren. "I can't swear to it, but that's what it look like today." (Sirius Speedway)(12-23-2011)

I saw something soon after the Texas incident that Kyle said he didn't know how many if any lower series races he would be doing and then this today...... The truck and Nationwide series could look a lot different than this year with Kyle, Kevin, and Carl cutting way back along with Brad cutting back some! But it does open the door for Kurt to take his place.

 

[Henderson]

Kurt isn't as good a Nationwide driver as his brother in my opinion. I think this would be a good thing for Kurt. Go run Nationwide or trucks full time, win a championship, then have a good seat for Cup in 2013 possibly. Just a way to get his name back on the map.

 

[FloridaFan88]

Whenever Kurt Busch is in a Nationwide car, he does well. 3 wins, 8 top-5s, and 10 top-10s in a 12 career starts. I think he can do very well in Nationwide, if he does choose to run the full-time schedule.

 

[S. Yogurt]

Kyle will end up running more races than people think. Really, at this point, it's the only way his organization makes any money. He will run 10 or 15 at most in NW, probably less in Trucks.

 

[Henderson]

Whenever Kurt Busch is in a Nationwide car, he does well. 3 wins, 8 top-5s, and 10 top-10s in a 12 career starts. I think he can do very well in Nationwide, if he does choose to run the full-time schedule.

Never knew that. Thanks for shedding light on my outlook.

He may be better then his brother...

 

[4WideRacing]

Kyle will end up running more races than people think. Really, at this point, it's the only way his organization makes any money. He will run 10 or 15 at most in NW, probably less in Trucks.

I'm sure his sponsors would be fine to have Kurt in some of those races.

 

[Elio Lugaru]

Oh, No Kyle Busch in the Nationwide & Truck Series would be GREAT! It would give the Nationwide & Truck Series Regulars a even chance to win!

 

[Markfan]

Kyle's numbers aren't all that surprising compared to other cup drivers, he just runs a lot more races in the lower series than they do these days:

Busch/Nationwide:
Kurt Busch 3 wins, 8 top 5s, 10 top 10s and 3 poles in 12 races (25% won)
Kyle Busch 51 wins, 120 top 5s, 149 top 10s and 23 poles in 222 races. (22% won)
Mark Martin 49 wins, 111 top 5s, 151 top 10s and 30 poles in 235 races. (21% won)
Dale Earnhardt Jr 23 wins, 56 top 5s, 77 top 10s and 10 poles in 119 races (19% won)
Carl Edwards 37 wins, 129 top 5s, 173 top 10s and 27 poles in 244 races. (15% won)
Kevin Harvick 37 wins, 142 top 5s, 201 top 10s and 23 poles in 277 races. (13% won)
Tony Stewart 10 wins, 29 top 5s, 39 top 10s and 6 poles in 92 races. (11% won)
Matt Kenseth 26 wins, 118 top 5s, 168 top 10s and 16 top 10s in 248 races. (10% won)
Joey Logano 9 wins, 41 top 5s, 69 top 10s and 16 poles in 88 races. (10% won)
Brad Keselowski 17 wins, 73 top 5s, 103 top 10s and 12 poles in 168 races. (10% won)
Jeff Burton 27 wins, 90 top 5s, 153 top 10s and 11 poles in 306 races. (9% won)
Denny Hamlin 11 wins, 41 top 5s, 74 top 10s and 15 poles in 128 races. (9% won)
Jimmy Spencer 12 wins, 44 top 5s, 93 top 10s and 3 poles in 212 races. (6% won)
Steve Park 3 wins, 15 top 5s, 29 top 10s and 1 pole in 56 races. (5% won)
Marcos Ambrose 4 wins, 8 top 5s, 16 top 10s and 4 poles in 75 races. (5% won)
Bobby Labonte 10 wins, 51 top 5s, 100 top 10s and 10 poles in 202 races (4% won)
Joe Nemechek 16 wins, 74 top 5s, 124 top 10s and 18 poles in 359 races. (4% won)
Elliott Sadler 5 wins, 31 top 5s, 62 top 10s and 11 poles in 164 races. (3% won)

Craftsman/Camping World:
Tony Stewart 2 wins, 4 top 5s and 5 top 10s in 6 races. (33% won)
Kyle Busch 30 wins, 59 top 5s, 78 top 10s and 12 poles in 101 races. (29% won)
Mark Martin 7 wins, 16 top 5s, 20 top 10s and 3 poles in 25 races. (28% won)
Kurt Busch 4 wins, 14 top 5s, 17 top 10s and 4 poles in 25 races. (16% won)
Carl Edwards 6 wins, 24 top 5s, 35 top 10s and 4 poles in 60 races. (10% won)

It doesn't hurt that the competitive level of lower teams has dropped in recent years, making it even easier for cup drivers to win in the Nationwide series. The odds are high that other cup drivers will just fill the void that Kyle leaves behind.

 

[B.McKeever]

I think it's the fact they can't run for points, so they don't get the recognition from the standings like they used to. Also, there is no need to run the poor paying, poor coverage, long travel races for these Cup guys. There's just no point in it anymore. The owner can throw a lower level driver in there just to bring home a Top 20 and preserve their owners points until the big gun comes back and wins or gets Top 5.

 

[Phantomguy24]

I think this means, correct me if i'm wrong, that there will be no full time buschwackers in the Truck series any more. Seeing as how the racing last year was already fantastic, with many drivers in the hunt for their first win, this could be even better.

 

[4WideRacing]

I think this means, correct me if i'm wrong, that there will be no full time buschwackers in the Truck series any more. Seeing as how the racing last year was already fantastic, with many drivers in the hunt for their first win, this could be even better.

Full time buschwackers? Do you mean cup drivers racing full time in trucks or full time cup drivers racing in trucks period?

 

[Phantomguy24]

Full time buschwackers? Do you mean cup drivers racing full time in trucks or full time cup drivers racing in trucks period?

I mean Cup drivers racing the Trucks.

 

[Markfan]

I think this means, correct me if i'm wrong, that there will be no full time buschwackers in the Truck series any more. Seeing as how the racing last year was already fantastic, with many drivers in the hunt for their first win, this could be even better.

When has there been a full-time truckwhacker, though?

 

[4WideRacing]

I mean Cup drivers racing the Trucks.

There will still be the ones that do a couple races a year and if Kurt replaces Kyle in several.....

 

[Phantomguy24]

When has there been a full-time truckwhacker, though?

A good point, It just seemed like every race there was at least one. The 2 truck had one almost every week and Kyle raced the 18 more than half of the season.

 

[4WideRacing]

A good point, It just seemed like every race there was at least one. The 2 truck had one almost every week and Kyle raced the 18 more than half of the season.

Not the races that were at other tracks than the cup series (other than the non cup weekends).

With Kevin and Kyle basically out it should help the truck series greatly!

 

[Relly]

I think I saw somewhere that Kevin Harvick was still going to do a few truck races...

I'm not shocked about this though, and it will do some good for Kyle, and let him focus on his Cup car and make a real run at the Championship

Now if only we can get Carl Edwards out of the N'wide those races would be twice as good

 

[4WideRacing]

I think I saw somewhere that Kevin Harvick was still going to do a few truck races...

I'm not shocked about this though, and it will do some good for Kyle, and let him focus on his Cup car and make a real run at the Championship

Now if only we can get Carl Edwards out of the N'wide those races would be twice as good

Kevin said that he wanted to do some truck races.

Carl Edwards has already said he would be cutting his schedule way back if he does any, the plans were way up in air the last I heard.

 

[The Captain]

Nationwide regulars will be winning Nationwide races. Sad that that's a foreign concept.

 

[MattSRD28]

Nationwide regulars will be winning Nationwide races. Sad that that's a foreign concept.

It's only a foreign concept to those who've only watched or can only remember back to about 2004 or so.

Back in the day there'd be a few Cup drivers in the then-Busch Grand National Series, and they'd win maybe 5 races out of the season or so, but the majority of the races and the championship were settled amongest series regulars. It was a mostly healthy balance, with everyone going "Oh dear!" whenever Mark Martin would be entered in the #60 Winn-Dixie car (and 'dear' wasn't really the word they'd say in case you missed it). For those who haven't experienced that kind of Nationwide series, worry not, you'll like it.

If that's where the series is headed back to, then it'll be a better series. What's even harder to remember about back in the day was that a Busch/Nationwide race didn't have 43 cars every race. It was in the mid-30's and even less at the smaller short tracks like Myrtle Beach & South Boston. So, I hope no one panics if/when the Nationwide series drops the field size, which it looks like it will have to do pretty shortly. Dropping field size and having less Cup guys will both end up being good things for the series from here on.