In a recent piece on SceneDaily.com, Kyle Busch discussed his interest in being a team owner in one of NASCAR’s top series “down the road.” From what we are hearing, “down the road” might mean 2010.
There have been rumors in the past about Kyle Busch either buying out current Truck Series owner Billy Ballew or starting his own team from scratch. Busch has been driving trucks for Ballew since the 2005 season, and it is widely known that he is not paid by BBM and takes none of the winnings. Now it appears that Busch could be competing against Ballew next season.
Next door to the AeroDyn Wind Tunnel in Mooresville sits a 60,000 square foot race shop under construction. According to Iredell County records, the $2.4 million facility being built by LB Builders is a race shop for Kyle Busch. Just to give you a comparison on how big this new shop is, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s facility for JR Motorsports is 66,000 square feet.
Word is that Busch’s new organization could have as many as two and half Truck Series teams and possibly a Nationwide Series team. Drivers being talked about for the two full time Truck teams include CWTS Champion Johnny Benson and the up-and-coming Brian Ickler (who was mentioned in the SceneDaily piece). Busch himself may be in a third truck part time. No word on who may drive the Nationwide car.
I think it’s interesting to note that a guy who is looking at ownership “down the road” and who is worried about sponsorship would be building a $2.4 million race shop out of the blue. There is no reason to be building a shop that big unless you plan on needing that much space. He could have a huge office, room to work on his R/C cars, and still have 58,000 square feet to work with.
We will keep you updated on this as we get more information.
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on Jul 30th, 2009 at 8:15 am
That’s pretty cool. Kyle Busch has his haters but you’ve gotta give him credit if he comes through and gives young guys a chance.
$2.4M isn’t a huge wad of cash for Busch (plus it’s probably financed) so I wonder if he’s building now while land and construction costs are low and will sit on it until the economy improves?
(Side note: Licker, this could be Timothy Peter’s golden opportunity!!!!)
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Here’s a thought, even Kyle Busch is entitled to build what he wants and since he loves racing, why not a race shop. It wouldn’t surprise me if he starts a truck and/or Nationwide team, however I would think it would be modifieds, dirt or late model just to start with.
He most likely needs a bigger place to store his car collection anyway, he doesn’t have enough room at his house.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Team ownership certainly has mellowed Tony Stewart and Kevin Harvick. It will probably do the same for Kyle Busch.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 10:13 am
For the record, Kyle already owns a latemodel team. And we didn’t say he wasn’t entitled, but the race shop is a piece of evidence along with what we’ve been hearing around the sport about his plans. Plus, if he needs 60,000 sq ft for a car collection, it must be one hell of a collection.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 10:33 am
[...] Kyle Busch discussed his interest in being a team owner in one of NASCAR’s top series “down the road.” From what we are hearing, “down the road” might mean 2010. There have been rumors in the past about Kyle Busch either buying out current Truck Series owner Billy Ballew or starting his own team from scratch. Busch has been driving trucks for Ballew since the 2005 season, and it is widely known that he is not paid by BBM and takes none of the winnings. Now it appears that Busch could be competing against Ballew next season. — NASCAR Insiders [...]
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I hope it’s his own team & not buying Ballew out. Any expansion in the truck series is good. I’d love to see Benson back in a truck & Ickler to run full time. Ickler’s shown some talent but seems to be getting shuffled out by Aric Almorola over at Ballew recently.
(Side note: Ross, Timothy Peter’s already had his golden opportunity. The RCR failure)
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Some guys build big houses, some guys buy huge RVs, Kyle builds a big race shop. Who cares? You are right, he could have a huge office, and room for his RC cars, maybe the rest of the space will be just big enough to hold all of his trophies. That is until hes a winning owner as well.
on Jul 30th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Again, the race shop isn’t the only reason we ran this. This plus the fact that we are hearing about who he plans to hire and what he plans to race are why we put this up.
For those of you that are new to the site, we put up rumors from time to time, but only if we think they are legit. If you don’t believe what we say, that’s fine. But we do have a pretty good track record…
on Jul 31st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Seems like a big undertaking the 2.4 million. But if he can afford it or has sufficient backing, what the heck let him do what he feels is what he wants.
Truck series, Johnny Benson and Brian Ickler would be great choices with
Busch driving part time could be a winning team.. Of course Time and money
can only tell.
on Aug 4th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I was on the fence about Kyle until I saw his NW post race interview this weekend.
The guy is a complete douche.
9 consecutive top 2’s and he is acting like someone just kicked his puppy.
I hope he misses the chase, and I hope Gibbs makes him stop racing NW and concentrate on his sub-par cup performance.