Busch adds firepower to Joe Gibbs Racing's 3-car lineup

~ Stewart and Hamlin welcomed their new teammate.

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- Kyle Busch had no shortage of job opportunities when he lost his ride at Hendrick Motorsports. Some offered him tons of money, others offered him a chance to be a No. 1 driver.

In the end, only Joe Gibbs Racing offered him an immediate chance to win a Nextel Cup title. JGR teams have won three of the past seven championships.

Busch signed with Gibbs on Tuesday, ending a busy 10-week negotiating period that began when Hendrick cast him aside to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"It was an easy decision after looking at all the prospects," said Busch, who will replace J.J. Yeley in the No. 18 next season.

"The Nextel Cup series is filled with good teams and good people, but the moment I saw the shop and began talking with [the team], there was a level of comfort that made me feel like this is where I belong. I want to win races and championships, and Joe Gibbs Racing's three-car/one-team philosophy gives me the best opportunity to do that."

Busch had an opportunity to win championships at Hendrick, where he's won four races since joining the Cup series in 2005. But the stubborn and strong-willed 22-year-old driver was never a good fit in Hendrick's corporate mold, and he was usually the outcast among his polished teammates.

He won't have that problem at JGR, where Gibbs, the Washington Redskins coach, thinks Busch can flourish.

"Going through this process, he was real forthright, straightforward," Gibbs said after Redskins practice. "He's very smart, and what he said was, 'I made some mistakes,' and he said, 'Hopefully, as young as I am, I can learn from those mistakes.' He was real forthright, real squared up, he didn't do an ego thing.

"He was really just, I thought, pretty humble on the stuff that we talked to him about."

Gibbs is conditioned to dealing with difficult people -- his NFL players with the Redskins, and his two current drivers, Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin.

Now Busch will be in the mix, and he's had his share of run-ins with Stewart in the past. But Gibbs and his son, team president J.D. Gibbs, said Stewart and Hamlin fully supported signing Busch.

"We talked at length with Tony," Gibbs said. "Tony's had some run-ins with [Busch], but Tony also is real, real smart and is a real, real racer and he understands things and he said, 'Hey, you need to go get him.'

"And then Denny was really friends with him. They talk a lot, they're younger, they're together a lot."