"I had to go there and apologize to them" - When Kyle Busch reflected on criticizing Toyota publicly during his time with Joe Gibbs

Before Kyle Busch left for Richard Childress Racing, ahead of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Las Vegas native was synonymous with Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing. From 2008-22, Busch helped take the manufacturer to new heights by winning two championships and 56 races.

However, not everything was always great between the former driver of the #18 JGR Toyota and the manufacturer, as the champion driver once explained in an interview with Graham Bensinger in 2021. While Toyota welcomed the driver in the beginning, Busch recalled the engines failing to improve over the years. This led to an outburst by car owner Joe Gibbs during a meeting. Further, Busch went on and publicly put Toyota on blast due to lack of performance.

"There was a meeting at Joe Gibbs Racing, one of our competition meetings," Busch said. "Joe got up out of seat and chucked his pencil across the table at the engine builder. The veins are popping out of Joe's forehead and you can see his neck and everything all stretched out and he is just going off. He used one cuss word. It was a**, but Joe never cusses. He doesn't use foul language. We were all just blown away. So I guess I took Joe's emotions and I'm like, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' and did it more publicly."

As a result, Ed Laukes, a former marketing executive for Toyota, asked Busch to pick up the phone and call him to voice any displeasure regarding the manufacturer's performance instead of making negative public comments. Busch admitted to Bensinger that the public criticism of Toyota was due to being "young and dumb" at the time.

Ultimately, Kyle Busch said it's about growing up and moving on, which led him to apologize to Toyota for his outburst.

"That's what I did with the Toyota guys," Busch said. "I had to go there and apologize to them and talk to them. A lot of those team members still today will say how much they appreciated that moment and my admittance and our opportunities to get better." (3:09 onwards)

Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs, Toyota after the 2022 season

In what was one of the biggest NASCAR driver-team shakeups in recent memory, Kyle Busch left Joe Gibbs Racing post-2022 season after 15 years with the organization. He moved to Richard Childress Racing, where he now drives the #8 Chevrolet.

Busch won three races with RCR in the 2023 campaign at California, Talladega, and Gateway, respectively. His wins qualified him for the playoffs but he was eliminated in the Round of 12.

This past season, however, was arguably the worst of Busch's career. The 63-time Cup Series winner failed to win a race, marking the first time in his career he went an entire season without a victory. Busch also failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2012.