NASCAR insider weighs in on Kyle Busch potential return to JGR, leave RCR for Hendrick

Could Kyle Busch actually leave Richard Childress Racing for a reunion with Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports?

While a fun conversation to have and many are indeed having it, don’t count on it happening any time soon. While “never say never” certainly exists, Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports wrote Wednesday that both scenarios are “very unlikely.”

“For the record, don’t count on him ever returning to Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports, and of those two very, very unlikely scenarios, rank a return to Hendrick above a return to JGR,” Pockrass wrote. “And if talking remote possibilities, don’t rule out Busch going to another former rival like RFK Racing as much as any other team.

“It would be hard to heal the wounds left (on both sides) by the Busch-JGR split. And Hendrick has such a solid stable, it probably would look for a driver who could be a championship contender for 10-to-20 years, not a driver with a fiery personality who is about to turn 40.”

Of course, these rumors of a potential split from RCR have coincided with Busch’s poor performance this season, but especially of late. After recording his second DNF of the season this past Sunday at Iowa, Busch now sits 31 points behind Bubba Wallace for the 16th and final playoff spot. He has now finished outside the top-10 in five consecutive races. Busch, after winning three races in his first 15 starts last season, is riding a 38-race losing streak, the longest of his career. He’s in jeopardy of failing to score a regular season win for the first time since 2004.

Kyle Busch in the middle of the worst stretch of his Cup Series career

Busch was asked this past weekend at Iowa if he’d ever consider going back to Hendrick or Joe Gibbs. Busch left the door open for a future reunion but pledged his allegiance to RCR for 2025.

“I would say anything is possible, always,” Busch said. “Certainly, if I was welcomed, I would go back, if Hendrick welcomed me back, I’d go back. But right now, I’m at RCR with my group of guys and the deal I have right now in place. So, we’re trying to work and build this program and make RCR great again.”

Despite his shortcomings this season, his former Joe Gibbs teammate, Denny Hamlin, believes Busch is much better than what the results are showing, he said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast.

“They are on a slide right now for sure,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know where he was running; I saw on social media that they thought it was a top-five car. I didn’t see him most of the day because of where I was running. So, I can’t really speak to that. But certainly, Kyle Busch is better than his results are showing right now. And the team itself is better than the results that they’re showing.

“Some of the luck — I hate the word luck in racing because you do make your luck most times. If you get caught up in a wreck running 15th, well you shouldn’t have been running 15th because that’s where the wrecks usually start. So, luck is an overused word but certainly they’ve had some misfortunes. Some of that was on them and others it just happened.”