NASCAR: Kyle Busch’s free agency schedule ahead of the Cup qualifiers

Charlotte

Kurt Busch confirmed to reporters at the NASCAR Cup Series media day that several teams have extended contract offers for the veteran driver, and indicated that the deal could come to fruition soon.

Headlines looming over his playoff season, the driver of Toyota’s swirling No. 18 car, told reporters that “more than one has papers in front of me,” referring to teams that have extended their official offers.

CBS’ Bob Bocras reported earlier this week that Richard Childress and Matt College – owners of the Chevrolet teams – indicated they had held talks with the multi-time Cup Series champion. Busch did not confirm who made the contract bids.

Bush has also referred to her sing-along rhyme many times before: “Yes, Joe Gibbs Racing is still an option.”

When asked when a potential deal would be struck, Bush joked that he wanted the deal done “yesterday,” adding, “I’m not going to set a timetable for it, but time is tough,” and there are plenty of other options, and lots of other dominoes that need to fall. “

Busch has been answering questions about his free agency for months, as a result of Mars’ decision to exit NASCAR At the end of the year, Joe Gibbs Racing (the current Busch team) was left without a primary sponsor for Team Busch 18.

The veteran driver told reporters that the decision affected him.

“It weighs you down every single time, every day of the week,” Bush said. “But I think the best thing for me is to be experienced and be able to race on Sunday. I’m a racer, that’s all I know, so when I get to the racetrack every weekend I put on my helmet, that’s what I focus on. Being on my own is when I’m doing my best inside that car, when I’m worried about making that car go fast.

“So you know, during the week I probably have a lot more things to do or run than I would like (instead of) to be able to focus on getting that car going fast on Sunday. But hopefully that will be put in place soon….”

“The Truck Series option with Kyle Busch Motorsports has made this situation 80-85% more difficult than if I were alone,” Bush said. This indicates that the KBM series of trucks goes where Kyle Busch goes. He added, “I would have finished by now if I had been alone.”

When asked if he could still win a championship this season, Bosch shrugged his shoulders and gave a sobering answer.

“I feel like we’re a top-five and top-six team right now, which is where we are right now,” Bush said. “We just need to clean up some of our mistakes. Speeding out of the way, that’s on me. Running up the air hose, whatever. But some things that happened to us, we can’t really clean up because it’s not what we did. It got stuck in shipwrecks and things like that.”

Bosch then grinned, comparing the stress of the decade’s speculation to what he and the other drivers will face in qualifying ahead.

“The tension in the last two or three months is probably as stressful as going through the Round of Eight. These pozos haven’t been there yet,” said Bush, laughing. So wait until they feel it. They will only have it for three weeks. I have dealt with it for three months. bring it.”