Wanting to replicate the success of Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, Kyle Busch wants to see a stronger partnership among the Toyota teams.
Ever since Tony Stewart became co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, his team and that of Hendrick Motorsports have become closely intertwined. The two Chevrolet-backed organizations share a technical alliance, SHR receives cars and engines from Hendrick and their combined eight drivers willingly exchange information.
It's a relationship that's such the competition commonly refers to Hendrick and SHR as one collective super team and an attempt to circumvent NASCAR's rule prohibiting organizations from fielding more than four cars full time. And it's also a union drivers representing other manufacturers would love to replicate.
"When we see the situation happen where Hendrick Motorsports goes from four cars to the relationship they've had with Stewart-Haas and the Stewart-Haas team becomes more competitive -- you see that eight-car dynamic and you've got to look at that, said Kyle Busch, who drives for Toyota-backed Joe Gibbs Racing.
What frustrates Busch is that JGR has not formed a tight partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota's second mainstay team. JGR and MWR share some information, but the affiliation is nowhere near as strong as the bond between Hendrick and SHR.
"That's what we need," Busch said. "For us now to be a four-car team, that's a step in the right direction, but there's still a greater step that could happen with Toyota and us and Michael Waltrip Racing being able to get closer together.
"I'm very vocal about it because I feel like we're idiots by not continuing to work in the right direction in order to put our companies together and do the right things for Toyota and for all of us collectively. It just makes me mad every day they say that nothing has progressed."
It isn't lost on all involved that drivers with Hendrick equipment -- either driving for Hendrick directly or in SHR prepared cars -- have won eight of the past nine Sprint Cup championships. But creating synergy between JGR and MWR isn't easy, and according to one MWR driver Busch is partially to blame for the gulf that exists.
"If we could get Kyle to work better with us, I think that it would be beneficial for sure,'' Clint Bowyer said.
Rob Kauffman, co-owner of MWR, says while his team is working with JGR in some areas, the relationship could be improved -- though there are limitations.
"Some level of collaboration that makes sense,'' Kauffman said. "You see that across all the different manufacturers. Are there areas where between Toyota, JGR and Michael Waltrip Racing can we collaborate and improve our overall level of competition? I think absolutely. Do we do that right now? Yes. Do we do it incrementally? I think the answer also is yes.
"When the cars are finishing 1-2-3-4-5 every weekend, I think maybe we might collaborate less or re-think where we're at. Until we have that quality problem, I think we have plenty to work on.''
And therein is part of the problem of why JGR and MWR don't have a significantly better partnership. While both are under the Toyota banner and receive engines from the Japanese automaker, each is a separate entity that builds its own cars.
Another factor is the varying performance level of MWR compared to JGR. A team entering its ninth year of existence, MWR is still growing and hasn't established itself as a consistent challenger for race win and championships. Whereas JGR owns three Cup championships and regularly sees its cars up front and leading laps.
"It's important to share information with (MWR), but also it's important to keep the competitive edge we have within JGR," said team driver Denny Hamlin. "We have all the tools it takes to win a championship, we've just got to put them all together and execute. We're right there. We've just got to break through that cusp."
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