Kyle Busch said Friday that he didn’t negotiate with any other team before completing his contract extension with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch’s multi-year contract extension was announced this week, along with a multi-year contract extension between primary sponsor Mars, Inc. and JGR. No other details were revealed.
Busch, who has been at Joe Gibbs Racing since 2008 and won 47 Cup races and the 2015 Cup title during that time, said there was no reason to look at any other teams.
“I didn’t go after anybody else,” Busch said Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “They have a window in the deal that I am restricted to them only, to negotiating with them only. As we were going through the negotiations, they were very receptive and I was very receptive to all the things that we were looking for from one another, so there was never a need to have that window expire and then to be able and go test the free market.
“I think that just shows you and tells you that the belief and the (trust) that we have in one another and the relationship we’ve had over the years that myself and Joe (Gibbs) can normally put our big boy pants on, sit in a room and do a good deal and we did.”
Busch was asked if it appeared more and more unlikely that he could picture himself driving anywhere else in his Cup career.
“My relationship with Joe, J.D. and the family and everybody has grown a lot over the years and each and every year I feel like it gets better and better,” Busch said. “With the time I’ve been there, talking to them in the middle of 2007 to signing with them and driving for them since 2008, has certainly meant the most tomy career. I feel it’s been a lot of Joe, a lot of the team members at Joe Gibbs Racing as well too, the engineers and the fab people and a lot of the guys that are familiar faces that love it there as much as I do and don’t go anywhere. It’s all about relationships.
“I feel like the relationship with M&M’s has continued to get better and has grown over the years as well as Toyota. I’ve got a lot of friendships there. With all of that, you never say never, but I don’t know that you would ever see myself drive anything different than a Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 M&M’s Toyota. Hopefully, it will stay that way. We know that it will stay that way for the foreseeable future and I’m certainly looking forward to that.”