HMS Legend Snubs Kyle Busch as He Namedrops 4 Kansas Favorites

Kyle Busch‘s legacy is synonymous with winning races. The Richard Childress Racing driver has registered wins in all three top formats of NASCAR. The two-time Cup series champion is a fan favorite and a legitimate playoff contender this season as well. However, former Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Steve Letarte doesn’t necessarily agree with that estimation.

Particularly with respect to the upcoming race at Kansas Speedway.

Steve Letarte chooses Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick drivers for Kansas win

After the riveting spectacle of Darlington, the playoffs shifted gears ahead of Kansas. NBC analysts Kim Coon, Steve Letarte, and Parker Kligerman came together to discuss the racing prospects at this tri-oval racetrack. Coon asked the former HMS legend for his top picks on racing performances at Kansas this weekend.

Coon mentioned Denny Hamlin for his four prior wins on the racetrack. She also included Kyle Larson, riding high on his Darlington victory last weekend.

In the pre-playoff media interviews, William Byron had anticipated a Gibbs-Hendrick showdown this season. Steve Letarte resonated with similar sentiments when he stuck to the two racing teams while picking his favorites for the next round.

He said, “Well until I see something different every single track we go to, I’m gonna list Larson, Byron, Hamlin, and Truex (Martin Truex Jr.) as the four favorites. They have the most raw speed and raw speed makes everything else easier. But I won’t lie why I think those four are going to be great and the cars you have to beat…Truthfully, the two Gibbs’ cars, the two Hendrick cars, Larson, Byron, Hamlin, Truex, that’s the heavyweight battle.”

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Noticeably, Letarte refrained from including Kyle Busch as a probable candidate for Kansas, despite him winning two races on the track, most recently in 2021.

What made Steve Letarte choose those four and not Kyle Busch?

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Steve Letarte backed his claim by explaining the unique requirements of the racetrack. Letarte specified that the 1.5-mile Kansas track may look uncomplicated on the face of it. However, it comes with its own challenges in terms of accelerated speed and strategic lane options on its wide turns.

“Don’t let the benign-looking mile-and-a-half very simple racetrack fool you. Darlington looks crazy, Bristol looks crazy, beware of the track that looks straightforward and that is Kansas. This track is fast, it is sweeping, it has options…two, three, four wide on the restarts…it looks simple from the tower…it’s anything but, when we put cars on it.”

That speed was certainly visible in Hamlin’s #11 Toyota and Larson’s #5 Chevrolet as they finished first and second, respectively, at the Advent Health 400 earlier this year. Unfortunately for Busch, his #8 Chevy did not even finish that race at the Kansas Speedway.

Moreover, driver averages are another factor at play here. Despite securing no victories on the oval since 2020, both Truex Jr and Byron have average finishes of 6.3 and 8.3, respectively. Kyle Busch, on the other hand, has a love-hate Kansas history with drastically differing results and a subpar average finish of 15.6.

Read More: “That Was a Weird Feeling” – NASCAR Insider Reveals the Lengths Kyle Busch Went to Make Joe Gibbs Uncomfortable

Nevertheless, Busch may surprise Letarte in the next round this year. His extraordinary race-winning skills are a match for any of Letarte’s heavyweights. It would be exciting to see if Busch’s performance gave a fitting response to the NASCAR analyst.