Auto racing notebook: IndyCar, NASCAR drivers announce 2023 plans

AP file photo by Terry Renna / NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, left, and team owner Joe Gibbs, right, are now in the final days of their partnership after Busch announced he will leave Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 18 Toyota next year to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
AP file photo by Terry Renna / NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, left, and team owner Joe Gibbs, right, are now in the final days of their partnership after Busch announced he will leave Joe Gibbs Racing and the No. 18 Toyota next year to drive the No. 8 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.


CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Kyle Busch will move to Richard Childress Racing next season, ending a 15-year run with Joe Gibbs Racing because the team could not come to terms with NASCAR's only active driver with multiple Cup Series championships.

Busch will move from the No. 18 Toyota to wheel the No. 8 Chevrolet for RCR, a move announced during a news conference Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame, where the 37-year-old Las Vegas native wore his 2015 and 2019 championship rings on his middle fingers.

"I'll be taking my talents to Welcome, North Carolina, to drive the No. 8 car starting in 2023," Busch said of moving to the team based about an hour north of Charlotte.

Tyler Reddick, who is currently competing for the Cup Series title in the No. 8, will remain under contract at RCR and drive for the team next season. Reddick told Childress two months ago that he was moving to 23XI Racing in 2024.

Richard Childress said he informed Reddick he'd be out of the No. 8 next season one hour before Busch's announcement. Childress said he'd obtain a third charter for Reddick's car but gave no other details except that Reddick's current crew chief will be paired with Busch next season.

When Childress joined Busch at the announcement, the Hall of Fame team owner presented Busch's 7-year-old son, Brexton, with a contract option to someday drive for RCR. But before that, Childress handed Busch his "signing bonus," which was a boxed watch.

Childress in 2011 tussled with Busch after a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway. The car owner removed his watch and handed it to someone, saying 'Hold my watch' before the altercation. Childress was fined $150,000 by NASCAR afterward.

Childress and Busch long ago made amends, which helped make RCR a landing spot during the driver's excruciatingly long free agency period. JGR learned longtime partner Mars Wrigley was leaving the sport at the end of 2022, and the four-car team had been searching for a deep-pocketed sponsor to keep Busch, who even said he'd drive for below his market value to get a deal done.

As the year went on and no progress was made, Busch was forced to look elsewhere for both his Cup Series seat and a landing spot for Kyle Busch Motorsports, his Truck Series team. KBM will now be a Chevrolet organization, but Busch said all details on KBM and how many trucks it fields next year are still being decided.

Joe Gibbs — like Childress, a NASCAR Hall of Fame team owner — and Toyota both released statements thanking Busch for his work.

Busch, who started his Cup Series career in a Chevy for Hendrick Motorsports, has 60 wins on the top circuit and holds the record for career wins in NASCAR's other two national circuits, with 102 in the Xfinity Series and 61 in the Truck Series. He thanked Gibbs for "being patient with me."

"You guys took a chance at a kid 15 years ago to let me drive a race car, and we hit the ground running," Busch said of Gibbs, who allowed "me to be a kid and grow into a man, most days."


Cup Series schedule mostly the same

NASCAR released its 2023 Cup Series schedule on Wednesday that includes previously announced races at the new downtown Chicago street course and a return to North Wilkesboro in North Carolina along with only one notable date shift.

The schedule is largely unchanged from this year, with the 10 playoff tracks the same, the exhibition Clash again returning to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the Daytona 500 — which is on Feb. 19 next year — remaining the traditional opener for the regular season.

The only notable date changes are a second stop at Virginia's Richmond Raceway being moved from August to July, which coincides with the shared NASCAR and IndyCar weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway being moved from July to August. The event will again be on the IMS road course.

NASCAR said the Feb. 26 race at Auto Club Speedway in Southern California will be the last on its two-mile layout. The stock car sanctioning body has wanted to convert the facility into a short track, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed any progress.

Speedway Motorsports announced last week it was moving the annual NASCAR All-Star Race to North Wilkesboro Speedway, and that event's date is May 21. Texas Motor Speedway hosted this year and in 2021, and the shift to the historic North Carolina leaves the Fort Worth facility with only one Cup Series race for the first time since 2004.

There will be only two races on Saturday nights next year, at Daytona International Speedway in August for the regular-season-finale and at Bristol Motor Speedway in September.

Atlanta Motor Speedway will also hold one of its two Cup Series races at night, though on a Sunday (July 9).


Indy driver deals

The messy saga surrounding Alex Palou's racing future finally cleared up Wednesday, when the 25-year-old Spaniard said he will return to Chip Ganassi Racing for IndyCar's 2023 season — and then immediately hopped into one of McLaren's cars for a Formula One test in Barcelona.

McLaren, meanwhile, said Felix Rosenqvist would return to his IndyCar seat next season as two key pieces of the series' head-spinning silly season fell into place.

IndyCar free agency went wild in July when Palou, the 2021 series champion, said he had signed with McLaren Racing for 2023, just hours after Ganassi said it had picked up an option on him. Ganassi promptly filed a lawsuit against the driver, and as they were navigating through the courts, the sides also entered into mediation.

Palou insisted he'd be a McLaren driver in 2023, but signs that something had shifted came Sunday when Palou won the IndyCar season finale at Laguna Seca. With Ganassi standing behind him in victory lane at the California venue, Palou for the first time indicated talks with his current boss were progressing and a resolution could be soon.

It came Wednesday, when he wrote on Twitter that he had come to an agreement to drive the No. 10 next year for a third consecutive season.

Palou said he was grateful Ganassi also will permit him to "to pursue F1 testing" with McLaren outside of his IndyCar commitments. McLaren posted on social media that both Palou and Pato O'Ward, its current IndyCar driver, were participating in a closed test with older F1 cars.

McLaren's other news was that Rosenqvist will be back with its IndyCar team next year in an expanded three-car lineup that adds 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi. Rosenqvist had basically been on hold all summer because of the Palou saga.

McLaren had signed Palou, believing he was free and clear from his Ganassi contract, to drive in IndyCar and test its F1 program. Palou also was the backup plan for its F1 team if McLaren was unable to land the rights to Oscar Piastri, but that deal was settled two weeks ago, which all but ended Palou's shot at moving to F1 with McLaren anytime soon.


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