Kyle Busch announced Thursday that he and brother Kurt Busch will team up to compete in the Nationwide Series in 2012 for Kyle's team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, with full-season sponsorship from Monster Energy.
Kyle Busch will drive 13-15 races for his team as it moves up from the Camping World Truck Series, while Kurt Busch will drive the rest, including standalone Nationwide races, as the team competes for the Nationwide owner's championship. Kurt will also compete in the Nationwide Series restrictor plate races for Phoenix Racing, his new Sprint Cup Series team. The pairing means that Kurt will be driving a Chevrolet in the Cup Series and a Toyota in the Nationwide Series -- a rare occurrence.
"We've had a lot of talks about how this whole deal is going to work out, what we're both looking to get out of this and what a great opportunity this is to race in the Nationwide Series," Kyle Busch said. "Kurt's never done a full Nationwide deal, he's always had the itch but never really cared about it."
The two donned matching Monster Energy shirts for the announcement.
Because of the arrival of Monster Energy as the team's sponsor, NOS, a competing energy drink, will no longer sponsor Kyle. Kyle will also not compete in the� Truck Series this year at the suggestion of his Sprint Cup owner Joe Gibbs. If he runs 15 Nationwide races and all 36 Sprint Cup Series events, that's 51 2012 events. Kyle ran 71 NASCAR events in 2011 and 81 NASCAR events in 2010. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Kurt. He's run just 12 Nationwide races in his career so far.
Earlier in the week, Carl Edwards announced that -- as of now -- he wouldn't be participating at all in the Nationwide Series in 2012 and Brad Keselowski is expected to run a partial schedule as well again. That may provide us with some sorely-needed new faces in victory lane in the Nationwide Series. The trio won 21 of 34 Nationwide races last year.
So, what do you think about the Busch brothers running for the same team? Will they be the perfect antidote for each other as they look to distance themselves from tumultuous conclusions to 2011 or will their intensity combining cause a spontaneous combustion? Drop us a line in the comments.
Christijan Albers Michele Alboreto Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari
