Earlier, we saw how Richard Petty’s son, Kyle Petty, responded to Denny Hamlin’s comments about the trajectory Kyle Busch’s career has taken in the Cup series. Now, the King himself has weighed in on the same, and his comments come after having gone through a familiar situation in his career.
What’s happening to Kyle Busch has happened before to greats like Jimmie Johnson and Richard Petty. Before the third-gen made its way onto the tracks in 1981, Petty marked regular attendance in the winning block. A few more wins followed after that, but as the car kept changing, wins became less frequent. He spent eight years chasing the high of his last win in 1984, and eventually retired after the first season of the fourth-gen car.
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Speaking about Kyle Busch, he told Speed on Fox, “I’ve been watching these new cars. Some of the guys really adapted to them and some of the people haven’t. I want to take Kyle Busch, for instance. Kyle could really manhandle a car. You can’t manhandle these cars. So he looks like he’s lost, and I feel for him because he’s got the ability to flat drive a race car. These are not the kind of race cars that he’s used to. It’s a different environment.”
Busch’s winless run has effectively crossed the 100-race mark. However, things weren’t always this bad, even with Richard Childress Racing. After joining the team in 2023, Rowdy quickly collected three wins at Auto Club Speedway, Talladega, and Gateway.
But then his fate changed, even as Busch said that one of the reasons why he chose RCR in 2022 was the belief that the team understood the Next Gen platform (thanks to Tyler Reddick’s results at the time).
Now, for a long time, Busch has been struggling to move through the field with the next-gen car- something that stands in sharp contrast to the earlier Busch, who could slice through traffic like a knife through butter. Besides that, problems on the pit road haven’t helped his case. There have been several stops that cost him his track position and penalties that erased his efforts. He had a bad stretch of DNFs in the 2024 season, between Gateway and Pocono, making a win the last resort.
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While earlier cars allowed drivers more freedom in their approaches, the current platform is far more sensitive, requiring precise communication and finely tuned setups. Hence, even minor mistakes can result in handling issues, like the ones we saw at Bristol and Las Vegas. Like Petty, Kevin Harvick also said that Busch’s driving style doesn’t match the demands of the evolved car.
Speaking on the same, Busch recently said, “Now I feel like anytime I pass the limits of this new car…I just spin the damn thing out. You can’t overdrive this car because it’s so on edge.”
Besides Busch, even his team has gotten worked up oftentimes. At the Las Vegas Motor Speedway this year, Busch found himself with a loose racecar that refused to turn into the corner. Naturally, crew chief Jim Pohlman became frustrated as repeated adjustments failed to work.
“Why? I don’t get it! We tighten it up and why can’t it get in the fuckin’ corner!?” Pohlman said. “I don’t know. I’ve got a headset on, not a helmet. I don’t, I don’t know. We keep tightening it up and we keep going slower!”
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And Derek Kneeland had a blunt response, saying that yelling wasn’t going to help. “You copy?” Kneeland asked. “Yeah, I copy. It’s the same shit every week,” Pohlman replied.
Before the next-gen car, Busch had a winning record with every car NASCAR introduced. He had his first win in 2005 in the fourth-gen Cup car, and even though he utterly disliked the fifth-gen, he kept winning again. The same was the case with Gen 6. Now, after his few wins with the Next Gen early on, he hasn’t been able to replicate the results.
But Busch has not been entirely off his game, picking up five wins in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series since his last victory in the Cup series. Even though this series is home to several less financially endowed teams and inexperienced drivers, and Busch has always shown dominance in the series, the point is that he can still win races.
That said, Kyle Petty doesn’t really agree.
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Kyle Petty calls out Kyle Busch’s form
Recently, reflecting on Busch’s stats, Denny Hamlin said on his podcast, “I’m just a podcaster that happens to be on the racetrack around him, and I can say it’s not working. I don’t have the answers, and I think we have to live in this reality for the time being.”
And while Kyle Petty believed Hamlin was fair in his assessment, he had a truth bomb for Busch.
“I think Kyle Busch’s skin is a little bit thin right now, rightfully so, because he’s not doing anything on the racetrack. He’s doing nothing on the racetrack. If you can’t beat your teammate, keep your mouth shut,” Petty said.
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So, how can Busch find his old magic? Some believe that the answer lies in changing his team, which hasn’t been able to attract any other top talent like Busch in years. Kevin Harvick did join the team, but left after the 2013 season. And before RCR, Busch had good stints with JGR and Hendrick Motorsports.
With Busch approaching free agency at the end of the year, he has a chance to find a ride that matches his championship dreams. A return to JGR and Hendrick might not be in the books, though – he left both teams on a slightly sour note.
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