Kyle Busch Gets A New Crew Chief?

Yes, You heard correctly. The relationship between Steve Addington and Kyle Busch has come to an end. As many of us Kyle Busch Fans are sad to see Steve go, we will look forward to see what Kyle's New Crew Chief, Dave Rogers as Of Texas Motor Speedway, can do to help this #18 crew out, but wonder..what happened? We all know that Kyle has his temper tantrums from time to time but it seemed that Steve was a good match for Kyle. Steve calmed Kyle down when he needs to be calmed down or just basically was quiet when there was no reasoning with Kyle. The 18 M&M'S Crew has not been the best this year and simply not the worst either. Yes they didn't make the Chase this year but was it really necessary to fire Steve Addington and to lower his position and move Dave Rogers up? No. Steve hasn't always been with the best drivers but seemed to really jell with Kyle even collecting 12 wins together in less than 2 years. Steve was simply there when Kyle needed someone to help show the world that just because Kyle was let go from his contract at Hendrick Motorsports, he was still a good driver and was still capable of winning races at Joe Gibbs Racing.

Then again, Dave Rogers could be very good for Kyle. Dave has proven in the past to be an excellent crew chief. On the Nationwide Side, Dave and Joey Logano have been unstoppable when Joey is in the #20 Gamestop Toyota. Speaking of Nationwide, why not Jason Ratcliff? He is obviously someone who could of been Steve's replacement. Jason already is Kyle's Crew Chief in the Nationwide Series and they both of won together 7 times just this year. Jason would of been a perfect candidate in my mind & maybe in other Kyle Busch Fan's mind too. It's been said that Kyle didn't even want a change and Steve had this to say about this unfortunate and shocking decision:

"You sit back and you wonder, you know, what do you gotta do because you beat a lot of great guys in this garage in the past 18 months and you start questioning what do you gotta do to be successful in this business?" Addington said on a radio interview. "And I’ve been with the #18 car for five years and the past two years have been awesome and I think it’s just, you just question what you have to do to make it over here. And I understand that and I’ve talked to a lot of people, and I’ve got a lot of support and I’ve got a lot of respect in this garage area.”

Kyle had this to say:
”I never lost faith Steve," Busch said. "He was always trying 100 percent, giving 100 percent and trying his all, working his people to death. I don’t think it was Steve (Addington) that didn’t give me what I needed, I don’t think it was the engineers – it was just something didn’t click."

As us fans look forward to the next 4 races until seasons end, we possibly all have some questions in mind...Will Dave help Kyle and understand him in the way that Steve did? Is this a good move on Joe & J.D. Gibb's part?

On an ending note, we look on to Talladega this weekend. Kyle & Steve's last race together..wouldn't it be awesome if they won? :)

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The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual writer and do not reflect those of the group.