'Mutual' split with HMS has Busch looking to future
Teams already showing interest in talented, young driver
By David Caraviello, NASCAR.COM
June 15, 2007
09:49 PM EDT

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- It didn't take long for the lobbying to begin. Kyle Busch was flying back from a charity dirt-track event in Macon, Ill., on Thursday night when another passenger began to make subtle inquiries about his situation for next year. With other drivers on the airplane, Ray Evernham knew it wasn't the time to talk in detail. But he made it clear that at some other time, he wanted to.

Days after Busch became the odd man out in the personnel scramble that resulted in Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s impending move to Hendrick Motorsports, the suitors were lining up to sign the talented 22-year-old for next season. Evernham Motorsports is interested in him. So is Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team Earnhardt left behind. Meanwhile, Busch is left to ponder the communication breakdown that severed his relationship with the only Nextel Cup team he's ever known.

"I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would leave Hendrick Motorsports or go to a different venture, but neither did Kurt Busch when he joined Roush Racing," he said Friday at Michigan International Speedway. "... I was 17 when I first talked with Mr. Hendrick and signed my deal with Mr. Hendrick. I've had the greatest time and utmost respect for him and everything around his organization that he's put me with, and I look forward to being able to go out and see what I can accomplish somewhere else."

Where else? Maybe the team owned by Evernham, who said Friday that he is "more than prepared" to add a fourth car to his Dodge stable for next season. Maybe DEI, which needs a new driver for its No. 8 car. With four career victories and poised to make a second appearance in the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Busch is the hottest free-agent property in the NASCAR garage

"I have a ton of interest in him," Evernham said. "You'd be stupid if you weren't interested in him. We've said we want to grow, and we'd love to have him. I don't know how much Chevrolet is going to try to wrap him up. When you've got Gibbs and Childress and everybody talking about fourth deals, everybody is going to be going out there. So we'll have to wait and see what happens."

Busch's reputation for tempestuousness doesn't scare Evernham away. "It's not like the kid's Mike Tyson," he said. "He's not out grabbing women and doing drugs. He has a temper, and he says things once in a while. To me, that's not really a bad thing. It's hard to take a guy you want to be total fire and drive that thing on the line every minute, and then expect him not to be emotional. You've just got to try to help somebody like that control his emotions."

Robert Yates Racing, which has a two-car Ford operation, could be a player. So could Richard Childress Racing, which has expressed interest in starting a fourth team. And Busch has zoomed to the top of DEI's short list to replace Earnhardt.

"Oh yeah, he's definitely right there," said Richie Gilmore, vice president for motorsports at DEI. "There are two or three guys we've got at the top of our list, and he's definitely one of them. I think he's one of the most talented drivers in the garage. When he became available, he definitely moved right up there."

Rick Hendrick has said it himself. What Kyle Busch has done in his young career in the No. 5 will make him well-sought after on the open market.

Adding Busch would be fine with DEI driver Martin Truex Jr. "The biggest thing Kyle has going for him is, he's a hell of a racecar driver. He can drive just about anything. It would be great for us to have somebody who can get out there and race hard and race for wins and run up front," he said.

"I've had an OK relationship with Kyle around the garage. He's cool. I've never had any trouble with him on the racetrack. We've always raced well together. I think it could work. I'm probably the easiest guy in here to get along with, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have any trouble with any teammates."

Exactly how Busch became available is still becoming clear. He was adamant Friday that the split was by mutual agreement, echoing team owner Rick Hendrick's words from earlier in the week. Hendrick and Busch were negotiating a contract extension when things took a sudden turn, one the driver claims he wasn't made completely aware of until it was too late.

"I had previous representation by someone else, and it wasn't discussed to me some of the things that probably should have been, so I was out of the loop on most of it," he said. "So I'm very ignorant when it comes to that kind of stuff, because I wasn't informed. Just from what I know is that the negotiations were going well, then they weren't going well, then we started getting back on track and then Junior announced availability and then that's where we kind of stalled out again. So, you know, I'm not stupid. You guys [in the media] aren't stupid. So it's kind of common sense, I guess."

The saga led Busch to change agents, firing attorney Alan Miller and signing with Jeff Dickerson of Motorsports Management International. Between the lines, it's easy to piece together a scenario under which Hendrick wanted to re-sign Busch, only to change course when Earnhardt became available. But despite all appearances, the driver doesn't believe he was forced out.

"Do I feel like I got pushed out? No, I don't feel like I got pushed out," he said. "For the way the negotiations were going, it wasn't going well, then it was, then it wasn't again, so I think that I can do better somewhere else. That's the way we kind of felt it."

But to some in the garage, it seemed strange to see the Hendrick organization part so easily with a driver it wrangled away from Roush Racing as a teenager.

"I know that Rick's been extremely committed to Kyle, and the development of Kyle, and believed Kyle could take him where he wanted to go. That seemed to be an unwavering commitment," RCR driver Jeff Burton said. "So I don't know what went on to spread them apart. The biggest surprise to me, based on my conversations with people at Hendrick Motorsports, is that Rick has been very committed to Kyle. My biggest surprise is that there is room [for Earnhardt], based on that."

The impending separation is also a blow to the men on Busch's No. 5 team, among them crew chief and close friend Alan Gustafson, who is under contract with Hendrick and likely to remain with the team next year.

"Kyle is a friend of mine. When you have a relationship like you do with the driver, it is very personal. When things go wrong, there is some disappointment," Gustafson said. "To sit here and say that there wasn't, I would be lying to you. I feel like when this all happened, we all knew the potential for Kyle to be a champion and win a lot of races. We still have a chance for him to be a champion here at Hendrick Motorsports. Now that it is not working out, I feel disappointed and I feel a little bit responsible in some regard, because if everything would have went well, we wouldn't have this problem."

The ramifications are likely to be felt all season. When Brian Vickers announced last year that he was leaving Hendrick for Toyota's Red Bull operation, he was locked out of some team meetings to prevent organizational secrets from getting out. Now Busch, 10th in points and very much in the thick of the championship hunt, faces a similar fate.

"It's a very good possibility," he said. "I hope it doesn't come to that, but you know, given the circumstances it probably will. To me, I think I'm close enough to the notebook where I know what's going on and I know what's in the car. I can look at stuff and see exactly what it is. I'm not retarded. I know pretty much a racecar from the ground up. I've worked on them for years. I've built my own racecars. I can look at certain aspects of it and know the measurements of it and stuff. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I can still look at it. I drive the thing."

Busch said that he has yet to formally talk to any team owners, but that his representatives report plenty of activity. At least publicly, he's not expressing particular interest in any specific organization.
"I'm interested in talking to anybody who wants to talk, whether it's DEI, whether it's Gibbs, RCR, Evernham, Yates, whoever's got an open seat," he said. "Whatever, lets go, let's sit down. Let's have dinner."

But the 2008 season is a long way away. Busch still has five months left to race for a team that he knows he won't be a part of next year.

"In Kyle and Rick's case, they came to the determination that maybe it was in both of their best interests to do something different," Burton said. "That doesn't change the fact that Kyle is still here to race to win. It doesn't change the fact that that team is still here to race to win. It becomes complicated, no question about it. The crew chief and the members of that team, they still have the same dedication and desire to win the race. They're not here just for Kyle Busch, they're here for themselves, too. It works both ways. Kyle is in a difficult position, but at the end of day, running well and performing is what it's all about."

 

I think once kyle busch learns to slow down and not try to get to the front so fast that he would be a good addition to evernham.