[jammin' jamey]

Kyle Busch was formally introduced today as the newest driver at Joe Gibbs Racing, taking the reigns of the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevy and joining Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.

Who got the better end of the deal? Hendrick Motorsports gaining Junior or JGR gaining Kyle Busch?

Opinions anyone???

[TidesHoss32]

It depends on what your basing your opinions on...performance or revenue money. Kyle Busch is a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr IMO, but Hendrick will benefit with more t-shirt and ballcap sales, etc..Busch will be a good fit for Gibbs racing, and I think Jr will be a good fit for Hendrick. I have nothing negative to say about Junior, but I do think Busch is a better driver..both drivers made good choices..and both owners will profit..

[15thRegionSlamaBamma]

It depends on what your basing your opinions on...performance or revenue money. Kyle Busch is a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr IMO, but Hendrick will benefit with more t-shirt and ballcap sales, etc..Busch will be a good fit for Gibbs racing, and I think Jr will be a good fit for Hendrick. I have nothing negative to say about Junior, but I do think Busch is a better driver..both drivers made good choices..and both owners will profit..

I agree and disagree...IMO Gibbs made a mistake team wise with this deal. As we have seen befor Bush does not work well with teammates and Stewart is not going to take anything from anyone. IMO Bush will not work well together w/ Tony nor Hamlin but i could be wrong. Revenue wise great deal on both sides. IMO Hendrick gets the better deal now he will have better drivers and better equipment to work with.

[BCF4L]

I agree and disagree...IMO Gibbs made a mistake team wise with this deal. As we have seen befor Bush does not work well with teammates and Stewart is not going to take anything from anyone. IMO Bush will not work well together w/ Tony nor Hamlin but i could be wrong. Revenue wise great deal on both sides. IMO Hendrick gets the better deal now he will have better drivers and better equipment to work with.

I disagree here. Kyle Busch didn't work well with his Hendrick Teammates because Rick Hendrick forgot he had a 4 car team instead of just 2. All the work went into the 24 and 48 cars and left the 25 and the 5 to fight their way through. Kyle Busch is an amazing driver, but can be too agressive on the track. I have seen numerous times where he has been in the top 10, but slam the wall by driving too hard. Driving the 18 will not calm his agressivness, but I feel you will see a more consistent Kyle Busch. I look for Kyle to win a championship before his career is over at JGR, whereas JR. will not.

If you're looking at overall profit though, it's a no brainer. HMS will gain more profit than Gibbs seeing as to how Jr. is the most popular driver in all of motorsports.

[rallo316]

Dale JR is a better pickup for Hendrick 10 to 1.

[jammin' jamey]

It depends on what your basing your opinions on...performance or revenue money. Kyle Busch is a better driver than Dale Earnhardt Jr IMO, but Hendrick will benefit with more t-shirt and ballcap sales, etc..Busch will be a good fit for Gibbs racing, and I think Jr will be a good fit for Hendrick. I have nothing negative to say about Junior, but I do think Busch is a better driver..both drivers made good choices..and both owners will profit..

I agree...From a financial standpoint, Hendricks is far better. Yet, what if Kyle Busch wins a Cup in the future at JBR? Busch then gets the endorsements and may come to rival Junior, although Junior will always be one if not the most popular driver in NASCAR for the foreseeable future no matter what he does. Also, JGR is more than likely switching to Toyota next year and they will be the face of Toyota Racing, which will give Kyle and the team more revenue.

Toyota has had problems adjusting to NASCAR and struggled, but think about it, they are linked with underachieving & startup teams.

I honestly think Kyle's move to JGR is a great for them. If they can reel him in like they did Stewart, let him focus on winning instead of competing for attention in his own race shop, he's going to win a championship.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

I say HMS got the better deal. JR has done more with less in his career so far. Kyle Busch hasnt set the world on fire in arguably the best equipment in the buisness. Joe Gibbs will immediately regret his decision IMO the first time kyle and tony take each other out of the race.

[jammin' jamey]

JR has done more with less in his career so far. Kyle Busch hasnt set the world on fire in arguably the best equipment in the buisness.

Junior has 4 DNF's this season. Kyle has 1. Kyle has won 4 races in 100 starts. Junior hasn't won since Richmond in 06.

[Braves_Fan_26]

I agree with BCF4L on this one. Kyle Busch is a better driver than Jr, he just gets caught up in some accidents that he cant avoid. Hendrick did forget that he had a 4 car team, and that will happen when u have two egomaniacs like Gordon and Johnson. Thats all I really have to say about it right now.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

Junior has 4 DNF's this season. Kyle has 1. Kyle has won 4 races in 100 starts. Junior hasn't won since Richmond in 06.

4 races in 100 starts isnt very good for Hendrick equipment. JR. won 6 races plus the allstar race in his first 100 starts with far less superior equipment. Sometime you JR. haters choose to ignore the cold hard math. By the way JR. has 5 DNFs this year 4 have been due to engine failures the other was getting swept up in a wreck not of his own doing at Texas. Kyle wouldve had a 2nd DNF in that race had JR. not finished the race for him in the 5 car cause he was such a punk he wouldnt finish the race for his team.

[jammin' jamey]

4 races in 100 starts isnt very good for Hendrick equipment. JR. won 6 races plus the allstar race in his first 100 starts with far less superior equipment. Sometime you JR. haters choose to ignore the cold hard math. By the way JR. has 5 DNFs this year 4 have been due to engine failures the other was getting swept up in a wreck not of his own doing at Texas. Kyle wouldve had a 2nd DNF in that race had JR. not finished the race for him in the 5 car cause he was such a punk he wouldnt finish the race for his team.

Wouldn't you say that when Junior started racing, the team was operating "top notch" and that their stuff was as good or better than Hendricks/Gibbs/RCR? No one could top DEI on the superspeedway's when Junior began. Steve Park and Michael Waltrip all had success with DEI in it's earliest days of operation. I don't think the argument holds up that Junior was driving junk during his first 100 races and won 6 times because their stuff was as good or better than other teams.

Since the passing of Senior, DEI has slowly went downhill pouring it's resources in Junior and unable to keep up with other teams. DEI was at one point this year, borrowing time at competing teams facilities in NC to test their cars. Their race shop is also one of the smallest in use. They are moving to newly absorbed Ginn Racing's new shop that dwarfs DEI's current home.

DEI will improve with the addition of Ginn's shop and talent (Mark Martin/Regan Smith). Is Martin Truex Jr. driving junk? He has had 2 DNF's this season and both races that he failed to finish, he qualified in the Top 10 (California 7th and Chicago 2nd).

DEI wasn't junk when Junior started, but it has been for him since he announced his impending departure.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

Wouldn't you say that when Junior started racing, the team was operating "top notch" and that their stuff was as good or better than Hendricks/Gibbs/RCR? No one could top DEI on the superspeedway's when Junior began. Steve Park and Michael Waltrip all had success with DEI in it's earliest days of operation. I don't think the argument holds up that Junior was driving junk during his first 100 races and won 6 times because their stuff was as good or better than other teams.

Since the passing of Senior, DEI has slowly went downhill pouring it's resources in Junior and unable to keep up with other teams. DEI was at one point this year, borrowing time at competing teams facilities in NC to test their cars. Their race shop is also one of the smallest in use. They are moving to newly absorbed Ginn Racing's new shop that dwarfs DEI's current home.

DEI will improve with the addition of Ginn's shop and talent (Mark Martin/Regan Smith). Is Martin Truex Jr. driving junk? He has had 2 DNF's this season and both races that he failed to finish, he qualified in the Top 10 (California 7th and Chicago 2nd).

DEI wasn't junk when Junior started, but it has been for him since he announced his impending departure.

Ill give you DEI was a lot better then than they are now but they still werent on Hendricks or Gibbs level as far as having the equipment to compete for a championship on a weekly basis. They were great on the plate tracks but after "The wicked witch of the south" took Ritchie Gilmore out of the engine room and into the board room. The plate dominance ended almost immediately. You have to remember that DEI was only a 2 year old race team in cup when JR started racing full time and were headed in the right direction but werent where they needed to be yet. As soon as SR died though it all started to unravel. IF Dale Sr. had been living DEI would be at the level of HMS and JGR. Even Dale Jr said that he wouldnt be leaving the team had his daddy been still alive. SR wouldve retired from driving in '04 and shifted all his focus on DEI.
The Ginn merger IMO was the act of a desperate woman who knows she screwed up royaly by treating her stepson as if he were still 10 years old. Now she lost her top driver AND his very rich sponsor for next year. If you want my honest opinion Teresa never wanted JR to win a title. The reason why is that she knew that all JR has to do is win ONE championship and hed be bigger than his daddy ever was as far as popularity and that would seriously mess with her very lucrative buisness "Carrying on with Dales legacy".