The NASCAR Cup Series has returned to the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) for the fifth consecutive year, but 2025’s race is anything but routine. With a new, tighter layout in play, drivers are navigating a shortened 2.40-mile course featuring tricky corners and track limits. This adjustment has eliminated long straightaways, increasing lap count from 68 to 95 and significantly altering race dynamics.

However, the first person to fume over the changes was none other than Kyle Busch. The Richard Childress Racing driver started from eighth and saw himself in the top three soon. An early chaos between Ross Chastain and Chase Elliott allowed him to gain positions. Yet Rowdy wasn’t happy with his performance on the newly revamped track. He made it clear that one section is proving to be his Achilles’ heel.

He didn’t hold back his frustration, bluntly stating, “My worst corner is the left-hander in the stadium section. I s— there. 15.” His struggles became evident early on as he fought to stay with the leaders despite a strong start. Busch showcased impressive speed in Stage 1, staying close to Shane van Gisbergen and even putting pressure on him in the closing laps. On lap 27, he made a bold move to pass van Gisbergen to take the lead.

However, His frustration boiled over when he lost his lead to van Gisbergen precisely in one of those challenging left-handers—turn 6A and 6B. Notably, van Gisbergen methodically worked around him by Lap 35, taking advantage of Kyle Busch’s weakness in that section. As the race progressed, Busch fell almost a second behind the Kiwi driver and continued to struggle on left-handed corners. At the end of Stage 2, he made a strategic pit stop and fell to fourth position on the restart. Despite his efforts and leading nearly half of the race, Busch failed to win again as his winless streak continued to haunt him.

Notably, this is not the first time Busch spoke about the revamped track. Ahead of the race, he had called out the change and its implications. “As you come back onto the back straightaway, the corner is kind of flowy corner, so I don’t think you’ll get much two-wide racing through there. Trying to set up something on that little, short shoot before Turn 12 is going to be tricky, to say the least,” Busch had said.

“Because you want to be on the inside for that corner, but the next two corners you’re going to want to be on the outside. So, I don’t know. I feel like we lost two and didn’t gain any. We’ll see how that transpires and what it looks like,” he further added. Notably, during the race, Busch continued to express his frustration with the track and even lost the race because of it. The revamped track gave a little tyre grip, and in the final laps, Busch failed to hold on to his lead and lost against none other than Christopher Bell.

Kyle Busch’s 2024 COTA horror haunts again!

The No.8 Richard Childress Racing team had an eventful outing on the Circuit of the Americas in 2024. Kyle Busch had a glaring moment with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell. Bell made an aggressive move that sent Busch spinning, creating plenty of drama on the track. After the race, tensions boiled over, leading to a heated exchange between the two drivers. It was a classic NASCAR moment—fast cars, bold moves, and tempers flaring.

Despite that rough incident, Busch came into this year’s race weekend at COTA looking strong. He secured a strong starting spot in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix qualifying session. He placed seventh with a speed of 86.626 mph. COTA’s challenging layout makes a good starting position crucial. Lining up near the front boosts Busch’s chances of fighting for a top finish.

However, even with a decent qualifying run, Busch had to fight against Bell again. After leading all through stage 3, Busch’s tire failed to give him the much-desired grip, and he lost his lead to Bell again. The JGR driver won his back-to-back race, while Busch failed to end his winless streak. Notably, Rowdy won his last race in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at Gateway.