“He About Wrecked Us Twice”- Livid Kyle Busch Sounds off on Martin Truex Jr, Voices Displeasure on Drivers Next-Gen “Defense Item”

With a top-five at Dover International Speedway, Kyle Busch broke RCR’s short-track curse. Yet he has one major complaint after the Wurth 400. If it wasn’t for Martin Truex Jr. employing air-blocking tactics to fend off Busch toward the tail end of the race, ‘Rowdy’ believes he could have brought home the second podium of 2024.

Busch shared, “Could’ve been one spot better, but still not a win… Everything’s week to week. You’ve just got to keep working at it week-to-week. It can be different every week, you know? I’m sure the [No.] 9 [of Chase Elliott] didn’t think they were capable or in a position that they were ready for a win yet, and they got one a couple weeks ago [at Texas Motor Speedway].”

He further stated, “The aero blocking is just so bad. It’s so bad and everybody knows it and uses it as a defense item. We lost a straightaway to (Truex). That’s what frustrated me the most was that he was slower. He was slow and just would not give me an inch in order to be able to get by. He about wrecked us twice off of [turn] 2.”

Just when Kyle Busch and the #8 Richard Childress Racing Camry XSE were falling short of the competition at the one-milers, the team seemed to have stepped their package up as Rowdy secured the pole for the Wurth 400. Unfortunately, that would be the highest Busch would run all weekend as the race began to unfold for the #8 driver. Although he had shown a stellar pace in qualifying, what had changed at such short notice?

Compared to super-speedway and intermediate tracks, the short-track package has truly suffered since the arrival of the Next Gen car. From Jeff Gluck to Dale Earnhardt Jr and Denny Hamlin, it’s no secret that frustrations are boiling over with the package NASCAR has for the Next Gen.

At the end of the race, Busch faced a similar fate as Kyle Larson, who was unable to challenge Hamlin for the lead as the #11 driver masterfully blocked the HMS star by running right in front of him. Still, Kyle Busch and RCR had a positive weekend, to say the least. But with Hamlin and Byron slowly building their win margins, Busch believes time is running against him.

After taking a look at Rowdy’s frustrations with the air-blocking characteristic of Next Gen racing, it’s safe to say NASCAR needs to find a solution quickly. Fortunately, the officials might not need to look much further than the feedback from Kyle Larson.

Kyle Larson sheds light on the most plausible solution to fix the air-blocking shenanigans at short tracks

Although Kyle Busch didn’t get a chance to turn the tables on Martin Truex Jr with aero blocking, Kyle Larson got to experience both sides of the table. Earlier on in the race, it was Larson who masterfully blocked the runners behind him by mimicking their lines through the rear-view camera. Ultimately, this very tactic is what cost Larson a shot at victory and caused Truex Jr to become Busch’s punching bag.

That being said, Kyle Larson revealed how Denny Hamlin used air-blocking to his advantage and was able to keep Larson at bay. He shared with Peter Stratta, “There was one time when he finally started moving up, and I was moving further up, trying to drag him up the racetrack. You know, I thought, maybe I could catch him off guard and shoot to the bottom.” According to Larson, Hamlin running a camera would have made it easier for him to predict the #5 driver’s position.

The HMS top dog added, “I don’t know if he runs a camera but probably does, and it’s really easy, I shot down to the bottom he pulled down to the bottom so, so it’s just really easy with the cameras and the car, it’s easy to air-block.” This is precisely where Larson saw a major room for improvement in terms of mitigating the air-blocking shenanigans.

Larson concluded by sharing a logical solution to NASCAR’s dilemma. He opined that it is difficult to see out of the rearview mirror. And hence, if the cameras were taken out of the car, things would become much easier.

With Kyle Larson seemingly exposing the major reason behind Kyle Busch’s Dover woes, do you think NASCAR truly needs to announce a major change to the short-track package soon?