"Joe Gibbs does not run 23XI Racing" - NASCAR team boss fires fiery retort at fans after Bristol race

Joe Gibbs Racing driver and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch's misfortunes continued in the first round of the 2022 playoff season. As a result, this led to Busch getting eliminated from the championship hunt for the first time in his career in the Round of 16. The #18 Toyota saw another engine failure in last weekend’s Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the latest disaster for Busch and his second incident in the first three playoff races.

Kyle Busch made headlines when he announced that he would be driving for Richard Childress Racing for the 2023 season. This brought an end to his 15-year-long relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing.

Many fans, especially Busch’s, questioned on Twitter why Joe Gibbs Racing would allow Bubba Wallace Jr. to return to the track after experiencing steering problems and move ahead of the #18 driver, which led to the elimination of the veteran driver.

One fan tweeted:

“23XI cars going back on track and taking points away from Kyle Busch. Joe Gibbs trying hard to get KB eliminated”

In reply to this, 23XI Racing president Steve Lauretta fired back at the implication made by saying:

“Joe Gibbs does not run @23XIRacing we do and while in an Owners Championship fight we gonna take points from anyone we can with the 45 while the 23 finished behind the 18 so there’s that”

After an engine failure, Busch made an early exit, ending the race in 34th place and, more importantly, finished behind Tyler Reddick in the points table. He failed to advance into the Round of 12, along with Reddick, Austin Dillon, and Kevin Harvick.

Wallace Jr., who took over Kurt Busch’s #45 car, is out of the playoff race but still in the fight for the owners’ championship. He has already advanced to the final standings of the owners’ championship after winning the second playoff race at Kansas Speedway.

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NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 after Bristol Motor Speedway

The third NASCAR playoff race at Bristol Motor Speedway was filled with mechanical failures, cut tires, and wrecks. When the race ended, there was another non-playoff winner who upset the hopes of the playoff driver and left 12 drivers to advance into the next round of the NASCAR playoffs.

Four drivers have been eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and the 12 drivers who made it to the next round are Chase Elliott, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Kyle Larson, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, and Austin Cindric.