Kyle Busch on NASCAR retirement rumours: "It was a consideration three years ago”

Kyle Busch has admitted he considered retiring from the NASCAR Cup Series three years ago, but is now keen on remaining in the championship.

Busch’s future has been a subject of speculation for some time ahead of his 40th birthday this May.

The Las Vegas native has enjoyed immense success in NASCAR since his debut over two decades ago, winning the Cup Series title in 2015 and ‘19 and accumulating a total of 63 race victories.

He also holds the record for most individual race wins across the three NASCAR national series, making him one of the most accomplished stock car racers of all time.

However, Busch hasn’t won a race in the Cup Series in almost two years now, while in 2024 he finished a distant 20th in the drivers’ standings.

But despite his recent struggles with Richard Childress Racing, Busch insists that he will remain on the Cup Series grid for the foreseeable future.

His contract with RCR expires at the end of the current season.

"It was a consideration three years ago," Busch said of his retirement in an interview with Fox Sports. "I think daily, you kind of work through those things and thoughts and where you wanna be and what you want to do.

"When you're still out here being able to enjoy what you're doing, working with your team and continuing to try to improve RCR and improve the program and get it to where we all want it and put ourselves in Victory Lane, we're gonna keep working at it."

Busch enjoyed most of his NASCAR success with Joe Gibbs Racing. But he left the Toyota outfit at the end of the 2022 season following the loss of sponsorship from chocolate maker M&M.

He subsequently signed a deal with RCR to drive the #8 Chevrolet in the Cup Series.

While 2023 was still a relatively successful year for Busch as he finished 14th in the championship, his streak of scoring victories in 19 consecutive seasons came to an end last year.

His lack of results is down to not fully adapting to the Next Gen car that was introduced in 2022, as well as RCR’s own competitive struggles in the Cup Series.

“I’ve had some long conversations with Chase Elliott because we grew up the same way,” said  Busch. “Like, racing super late models across the country and those style of cars. And I’m like, ‘Man, have you found this thing to just be a beast? Like a challenge?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve had to change my driving style.’ I’m like, I don’t know how to do that.

"I have a feel that I’m looking for and when we get that feel I can have the same feel as the old car and be fast with it, but dude, trying to find that is like a needle in a haystack.”

Busch is yet to stand on the podium this year, with his best result so far being a seventh-place finish at Atlanta.