“Other sports are healthy”: Kyle Busch drops major truth bomb amid NASCAR’s legal battle with 23XI Racing
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch expressed his views on the standoff between NASCAR, and Michael Jordan's 23XI racing and Front Row Motorsports. He also revealed how other sports are "healthier" than NASCAR.
Bob Jenkin's Front Row Motorsports joined hands with 23XI Racing in the ongoing case with NASCAR. Both teams chose to overlook the new set of rules passed by NASCAR for charter agreements. The association filed a preliminary injunction motion on October 24, 2024, and the final court hearing is scheduled for November 4.
Kyle Busch expressed his thoughts on the whole situation, in an interview with Front Office Sports and said:
"NASCAR is a great family sport, and we have these opportunities of supporting one another at a lot of times and through a lot of good and a lot of bad. But as most families do, sometimes they fight."
Busch highlighted that teams should receive a larger portion of the revenue collected from advertising on TV like all the other US leagues. He recalled his time when he was almost out of work and added:
"Other sports are healthy. They’re a lot healthier than ours. I was sort of the catalyst to this process of what’s going on in the charter agreements. When I was with Joe Gibbs Racing, we lost our main sponsor M&M’s as they pulled out of the sport, and I was left without a job because we couldn’t find a replacement sponsor."
Busch now races for Richard Childress Racing and believes that there should be more ways for a team to earn money and stay afloat.
NASCAR's Netflix documentary leaves Kyle Busch out for the second time
In the same interview, Busch also talked about NASCAR's documentary Full Speed by Netflix left Kyle Busch out for season two. The documentary shed light on the behind-the-scenes action of NASCAR's top stock car drivers. The concept is similar to Netflix's blockbuster Drive to Survive series based on Formula 1 racing.
The first season of Full Speed aired on January 30, 2024, and season two was announced in September 2024. According to reports, season two is in work and expected to be aired in 2025. The cast includes Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace, and Tyler Reddick.
“No, they didn’t ask me,” Busch told Front Office Sports about Full Speed's second season. “Maybe it comes down to that you must be in the playoffs to be on video. I don’t know, but I think my story of the 20-year thing would be a pretty good one. But they’re not following along, so you won’t see much of me.”
Despite winning three races in 2023 and qualifying for the playoffs, Kyle Busch did not play a huge role in season one of the series Full Speed. The first five episodes were about ten playoff races and the qualified drivers. The reason behind dropping Busch might be RCR's poor performance in 2024.