When a NASCAR driver goes into the free market, they often have to not only show what they can do on the track, but the value they can bring to the team when it comes to sponsorship. Most drivers on the free market in 2022 were able to do this. Kyle Busch, however, took that premise to a whole new level.

Busch was arguably the biggest driver on the free market last season. It didn’t start out that way, however. When 2022 began the news that Busch was in his final contract year at Joe Gibbs Racing didn’t seem like a big deal. After all Busch had been with the team since 2008 scoring 56 of his 60 career wins in the Cup series along with two driver titles. Despite the news late in 2021 that M&Ms, which had been in sport for 32 years and with JGR for much of that time would leave at the end of 2022, it seemed that the team would do whatever it took to keep their winningest driver. Indeed, it seemed like contract extension was almost a given.

But in August of last year after nearly an entire season of silence from the team, and Busch getting peppered with contract questions every week, it was revealed that Busch and the team would in fact be parting ways at the end of 2022.

Suddenly Kyle Busch needed to find a home. But that didn’t take long.

In September Richard Childress Racing introduced Busch as the driver of their No. 8 Chevrolet starting this season. Signing arguably one of NASCAR’s most recognizable drivers came with somewhat of a risk; especially considering that Busch’s longtime sponsor was leaving the sport. It was somewhat more of a gamble considering the sponsorship landscape in the past few years.

Torrey Galida is RCR’s president. He spent over 20 years in the automotive and motorsports industry before being named COO at the team in 2011. He became the first president of the team other than founder Richard Childress, in 2014.

“Over the last five- or six-years sponsorship has been relatively challenging and really probably longer than that, probably the last 10-, 10- or 12-years sponsorship has been a challenging environment,” he said. “I've worked with a number of high-profile drivers including, Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer and Austin Dillon. And then our most recent was Tyler Reddick, who was a rookie. You try to get as much as you can and in recent years, as I said, that's been challenging.”

Finding sponsorship for Kyle Busch might present a challenge to any team given not only the sponsorship landscape in the last few years, but Busch’s reputation as well. Busch has never been afraid to speak his mind and take on the role of a villain. He’s become a polarizing figure with fans who either love hm or not. And Kyle Busch’s critics said the brash driver was “unmarketable” and said any team he did sign with would have a hard time finding sponsors for him.

For Richard Childress Racing though that wasn’t an issue. Many of the sponsors on the No. 8 stayed on for this season, including Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Alsco, Lenovo, and BetMGM though Galida admitted that for some it took a bit of convincing.

“With some of them, it was a really easy process,” he said. “You know, they felt like right away that Kyle would be a great spokesperson for the brand. With a few others it took a little more time and a little more convincing, but like I said, thankfully we've been able to convince all of them that an investment in RCR and Kyle Bush was going to be a good thing.”

That easy process was no doubt aided by Kyle Busch himself.

When Busch made his last move, from Hendrick Motorsports to JGR, he was a 23-year-old with just three years of experience at the NASCAR Cup level. During his years at JGR however, Busch matured, and grew the business side of his resume as well. He founded his own team adding sponsors for his drivers, and created his own energy drink that he markets. All that meant that when he hit the open market this time, he had a great deal to offer.

Busch said when he was looking at potential teams a big part of the process was the people who make up that team, from the competition to the sponsorship side.

“It was obviously a huge question mark going into all of that to begin with,” Busch said. “When you look at these places and the opportunities that were presented in front of you, there was a lot of good storylines to that, and it was really a very difficult decision.

“But I think what it boiled down to more than the sponsorship side of it was obviously the people and the way they kind of go about the business and the way they do the business and things like that.”

Busch said that in the end RCR checked all the boxes.

“I just really enjoyed Torrey's team with Jen White (RCR VP of marketing and communications),” he said. “And all the guys that are there that do such a good job of getting the sponsors, but also retaining them and putting them through the at track stuff that makes a program successful.”

Busch made his debut with the team at the non-points Clash exhibition race at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum where he finished third behind his new teammate Austin Dillon. When he makes his first appearance in a points paying race this coming Sunday in the season opening Daytona 500 his sponsorship will come from 3CHI a company that conducts cannabinoid research and offers hemp based consumer products. They were new to the sport in 2022 and are among the sponsors that will continue that relationship with the team and Kyle Busch.

There is some open inventory on the No. 8 car for 2023, but not much. And filling those open spaces shouldn’t be an issue; one company Netspend has been added and the conversations for others started when Busch was signed.

“We've had a lot of interest,” Galida said. “We didn't sign Kyle until September, so the vast majority of our time was, for that first couple of months, was really making sure we had all our current sponsors on board, and at the same time trying to engage new prospects and sign new partners.”

For the driver’s part, Busch brings his 15 years of growth at JGR to the table. He learned that it was the personal relationships he developed with sponsors that kept many of them throughout his entire JGR tenure. He does admit that his reputation might have proceeded him.

“Now that it's all new, you know, people are a little skeptical sometimes,” Busch said. “And some of that was a little bit, I wouldn't say a challenge, but some of that was definitely said when I was being courted by RCR. It was like, ‘well, hey, we need to get you in front of these partners, they want to meet you and see you and all that’. And I'm like, ‘yeah, I'm going to, let's do it’. You know, I actually enjoyed that part of it and like making myself available to build that chemistry and that relationship with people.”

Galida admits that while attracting new sponsors is easier there are still some challenges, though not due to their new driver.

“I'd say the market right now is okay, not great,” Galida said. “I do think we're benefiting from the fact that overall, the sport had a really good year last year. RCR had a very good year. We saw an increase in TV ratings, we saw good crowds at the majority of tracks. So I think we're all benefiting from that as well.”

One thing that will be a benefit to the team is its new driver. A racer who has learned that he not only needs to perform on the track, and outside the car as well.

“It should come as no surprise that Kyle Busch’s immense driving talent has been matched by a tremendous business acumen,” said Daryl Wolfe, NASCAR Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer. “He has proven this over the years as a driver, a team owner and a business owner. With sponsors being a vital piece of the sport, Kyle’s expertise and knowledge of sponsors’ needs will be a great complement to RCR’s first-class business development team.”

When he lowers the visor on his helmet, and the green flag for the Daytona 500 drops Sunday, the offseason will end. As Kyle Busch begins his 19th year of fulltime racing in NASCAR’s Cup season it will be with a new team and one of his busiest offseason periods ever will be over and he will finally get to do what he does best: simply race.

“It’s been a busy off-season, that's for sure,” he said. “I wouldn't say it's challenging. It was just busy, a lot going on. Fortunately for me, I've been here for 15, 18 years; I have the experience and I'm a veteran of being able to make that transition a lot easier.

“I feel like when I first made that transition back in 2007-8 to go over to Joe Gibbs Racing, I was young and too new and didn't really do a whole lot of anything on my own, just kind of like went along with it. Now I feel like I have a voice and I have a say and I can go in and I can try to talk about things, whether it's the sponsorship side, the marketing side, whether it's the competition side and you know, me and Austin working together. So it's been really good. But like you said, when green flag for the Daytona 500 drops I'm probably going to take a breath of air.”