Kyle Busch Explains What Went Wrong at JGR | DiBenedetto Silly Season Update

Can’t blame Kyle on leaving at that point when it came to Oracle and JGR.

RC better negotiator.

Sad to say but the best thing to happen to RWR is Cody getting in trouble

Joe gibbs racing, in general, has not been a likable team for quite some time. Despite the success of Kyle, Denny, and many of their other drivers, people have not liked Gibbs as an organization since the days of Bobby Labonte and Dale Jarrett, and Pontiac/Chevrolet. Many people blame Gibbs for Matt Debenideto’s struggle, making it too expensive to maintain their alliance. Martin Truex Jr was more popular at Furniture Row than he is at Gibbs, and I have heard people claim that they “allowed” Furniture Row to close just so they could get Truex IN house. They didn’t seem to put up much of a fuss when Carl Edwards walked away suddenly. They rushed Joey Logano into Cup too soon. Many people feel that they mistreated Eric Jones, Daniel Suarez, even your beloved Matt Kenseth. I’m not claiming that Kyle Busch did himself any favors with his bullying and/or temper tantrums, but who he drove for made it that much easier to boo at driver introductions. If Bush had gone to Childress from Hendrick, he might not have as many wins and championships at this point, but he would have never faced as much hatred as he did up until last year.

Picking up Kyle was a success for RC and Kyle. Never been a huge Busch fan but him being successful without Gibbs equipment has made me very happy.

I read somewhere a couple years ago that RCR had more sponsorship money than all other teams except Hendrick. More than JGR with 4 cars. They have plenty of funding.

I agree that the move to RCR was good for Kyle, but I don’t think being a heel bothered him much. To me, I actually feel the opposite is true regarding him and Denny. Kyle fed the crowd a lot and toyed with them, especially in the latter years at JGR. While we’re starting to see that with Denny, he still just looks uncomfortable trying to play that role.

As a Matt DiBenedetto fan, his fall has been a sad ride to see, filled with tons of historic revisionism, and overlooking of factors, however, I will concede that he’s burned his way out. I’ve always appreciated his honesty and that he was never shy about his struggles and grind to make it into this industry. He was absolutely justified in how he felt after getting canned at WBR for Burton, and I still hold firm that he should’ve been brought back in 2022. However, his 11 minute rant video was a terrible decision to do, and idiotically saying “Let’s Go Brandon!” at Phoenix that year was the death nail for him. The dude has never been able to atract sponsorship, and then he does that. That’s how you destroy what little marketability you may have had. He was never going back to Cup again after that, unless if he pulled off a miracle. That never came. As for his time at Rackley WAR, things on the surface seemed fine, which is what made his departure all the weirder. But, his incessant need to always find something “better” has finally caught up to him. Who’d want to sign someone who attracts no sponsorship, who then in turn will quickly leave for something “better”, throwing your whole team under the bus for any shortcomings (even if it’s, like, 70% true for Matt), and then repeat the cycle over and over again. I still like Matt, but he did this to himself. He lacked the patience to build something special, like Corey Lajoie is doing with Spire. And clearly, too much honesty can be a detriment, and in this industry, with how unstable sponsorship is, honesty is not a card to be playing at every opportunity like Matt did. Maybe one day we’ll learn more about Matt behind the scenes. Everything about him suggests he’s a good guy, but perhaps there’s a chance that his over honesty is masking his true colors, thereby making him a dishonest fellow, and people have finally had enough of it. I’d certainly hope not, and I sincerely hope that’s not the case. I wish him well, but unfortunately, it seems his NASCAR career is dead. It’s a shame. Oh what could’ve been if he won at Bristol in 2019…