JGR considered pulling Busch out of the No. 18 car

JGR considered pulling Busch out of the No. 18 car

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(November 10, 2011)

AVONDALE, Ariz.—Despite rumors to the contrary earlier in Thursday, Kyle Busch will drive for Joe Gibbs Racing in the final two NASCAR Sprint Cup events of the season, though not in the livery of his primary sponsor, M&M's.

Busch will race a car sponsored by long-time JGR backer Interstate Batteries. At 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday, Cup transporters were lining up to enter the track. The No. 18 hauler still featured the M&M's paint scheme, but The Associated Press and The Charlotte Observer reported that Busch's car would carry the colors of Interstate Batteries.

With discussions of his future with the organization still unresolved, JGR had considered pulling Busch from the car for final two races, as indicated by a Wednesday phone call from team president J.D. Gibbs to former JGR Nationwide Series driver Aric Almirola.

Almirola currently drives the No. 88 Nationwide Series Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.

"They simply asked if I would be available, and I told J.D. to check with my bosses, and that's as far as that went," Almirola told Sporting News after Thursday's final Nationwide practice at Phoenix International Raceway.

Almirola believes JGR was simply covering its bases in case Busch's position became untenable.

"They were just checking to see if I was available, and I told them I was, and that was that," Almirola said. "I've haven't gotten a phone call back, so I assume everything is taken care of."

As it turns out, Almirola was right.

Beyond the final two races of the 2011 season, however, Busch's future with JGR—as well as the relationships between JGR, Mars Inc. (M&M's parent company) and Busch—remain uncertain.

Almirola has started one Cup race for Joe Gibbs Racing, at Las Vegas in 2007. All told, Almirola started 27 Nationwide races for Gibbs in 2006 and 2007.

He was credited with his only victory in the series in 2007, when he started a race at the Milwaukee Mile in place of late-arriving Denny Hamlin, who was commuting from the Cup weekend in Sonoma, Calif. Hamlin took over after 59 laps and won the race, but Almirola, who left the track before the race was over, got credit for the victory because he started the car.