Kyle Busch leaving Joe Gibbs Racing last year created a lot of buzz among the fans and media. He replaced Tyler Reddick at Richard Childress Racing to take over his #8 Chevrolet. On the other hand, Reddick was bound to join 23XI Racing in 2024, but Busch’s arrival at RCR expedited his joining the Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin-owned team a year earlier. Despite having a good start to the season, Rowdy was recently left heartbroken.

Busch has 61 wins to his name in the NASCAR Cup Series and despite that, he remains as hungry as ever. However, things recently did not go as planned for the 2023 Auto Club 400 winner.

Kyle Busch was left disheartened after his recent failure to emulate Tyler Reddick

For his age, Tyler Reddick has done pretty well. He has four wins in the Cup Series to his name, out of which three came last season with RCR. It was disappointing for him to leave after he finally had got that rhythm. On the other hand, Busch faced a similar fate after ending his 15-year relationship with JGR.

However, Reddick has turned out to be quite impressive in the 2023 campaign. He recently won his first race at the Circuit of The Americas, beating none other than Kyle Busch in the process. After the race, Rowdy spoke to Fox Sports. When asked if there was anything that could have helped him beat Reddick, he said, “Yeah, I don’t know if we could have.”

Busch explained where the difference lay. He said, “Even if we were on equal tires, I mean when we tested here they were lights out and had us beat on the front side of the runs. We needed longer runs but even today for some reason we just didn’t have a really great long-run speed.”

Despite the 37-year-old claiming it to be a good race, he described his strategy that didn’t fly. Busch said, “So you know Tyler’s obviously a really good road racer. I mean he proved it driving this car here last year and I was able to get in it and run right back to him. So I’ve been trying to emulate the things that he did in order to make this car fast last year and just not quite all the way there but they had a whale of a car.” 

READ MORE – Tyler Reddick Regrets That He “Didn’t Get to Finish” as He Painfully Admits Kyle Busch’s Move “Worked Out” for His Former Team

While one Busch was disappointed, the other Busch couldn’t control his happiness. Wonder how Kyle would feel seeing his brother Kurt celebrating.

Kurt Busch chokes up celebrating Tyler Reddick’s COTA win

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If it wasn’t for his concussion injury at Pocono practice last year, Kurt Busch would still be competing with 23XI Racing. However, he is involved with the team in a consultant role, and seeing Reddick enter victory lane left him emotional.

Speaking at the FOX booth, an emotional Kurt said, “It’s amazing. 23XI and how fast we’re growing and how much we’re doing together. It’s ‘Forward Together’ on this program… it brings, brings me a little bit to be choked up. I was hoping to be back in that car, but it’s in good hands and it’s a great team and I love racing with those guys.”

WATCH THIS STORY | Kyle Busch’s Early Season Win Triggers a Huge RCR Admission Following Career-Altering Move

The 44-year-old was forced to an early retirement in his career but was overwhelmed by the Reddick win. It was indeed a memorable day for 23XI Racing. However, what does this mean for Bubba Wallace, who now has multiple DNFs in six races?