After missing the playoffs and going winless for the first time in two decades, Kyle Busch enters the new year with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism. The two-time Cup Series champion is looking to bounce back after a challenging 2024 season.  However, behind the scenes, there’s a major struggle Busch has been grappling with. In a recent interview, the Richard Childress Racing driver opened up about the challenges ahead of the upcoming season.

While his focus remains on returning to Victory Lane, Busch highlighted a frustrating aspect of Next-Gen NASCAR cars that has made it tougher than ever for him to find success.

Kyle Busch struggles with increasing competition!

Since his debut, Kyle Busch has been making headlines by winning races and breaking notions. However, after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023, Rowdy’s performance is taking a turn for the worse. In 2024, he failed to get a single victory lane appearance and had a ‘statistically worst’ season after his debut run in 2005. Now, ahead of the 2025 season, Busch spoke about his struggles and admitted that increasing equality among the cars has made the competition even fiercer.

In a candid conversation with Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, Rowdy revealed that competition has got tough. “It’s just tough. I mean, with all the cars being more equal you’re fighting for hundreds of thousands of inches. You know, we used to talk about tenths, or thousands, or whatever, and now it’s just crazy how tight everything is,” Busch tells Pockrass. The entire idea of parity is to level the playing field, and ensure the bigger teams don’t bulldoze the smaller ones by pouring more resources on development. Yet, the pain still lingers for drivers.

Perhaps Busch felt the pain of the cars being on the same level a little too much this year. In a year with no wins, Rowdy knew he had a shot at winning the Cup race at Daytona. However, Harrison Burton managed to take the lead in one of the NASCAR’s closest finishes and held Busch off. It was a matter of 0.046 seconds between Busch and Burton, as Rowdy missed out on yet another shot at victory. And it’s not just Kyle Busch who dealt with such finishes. Ryan Blaney and Daniel Suarez’s 0.003-second difference at Atlanta as well as Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher’s difference of 0.001 second at Kansas is enough evidence to show just how tight things are between teams.

For some, it has been especially hard. Notably, Kyle Busch’s 2024 season was in total contrast to what NASCAR fans are used to witnessing. In his almost two-decade-long career, Busch has won more than 230 races across three tiers of NASCAR. He has 63 Cup Race wins against his name along with two elusive Cup titles. However, most of these came with Joe Gibbs Racing, but a switch in 2023 almost changed everything for the ‘Bad boy of NASCAR.’

Despite such a poor season, Kyle Busch is very optimistic about the upcoming season. He believes that Richard Childress Racing had everything to win last year but eventually failed to do so. “We had some really good race cars last year, some really good runs, and just wasn’t able to capitalize on those and being able to get to Victory Lane,” Busch explains.

Notably, Busch’s confidence comes from some off-track changes at RCR. In 2024, RCR managed to get only one win as Austin Dillon clinched a victory. Learning from their mistakes, Richard Childress and co made some serious changes during the off-season. The team has almost changed its shop crew by inducting new engineers and other technical staff. Busch believes that these changes will help RCR to build a competitive car for the upcoming season. While the 2024 season may have been frustrating, he aims for redemption in the upcoming season.

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A change in Busch’s personality!

While we wait to see Kyle Busch’s comeback to victory lane, there is a very interesting change in Busch’s personality. The Busch of today is not the same fiery figure that fans once saw. Busch’s evolution is perhaps most evident in his approach to adversity. Gone are the days when a poor finish or a racing mishap would spark fiery interviews or public outbursts. Now, Busch handles setbacks with a sense of maturity and patience that reflects the changes in his life beyond the racetrack.

Richard Childress, the owner of Richard Childress Racing, has spoken extensively about this shift in Busch’s mentality. Childress sees a more mature version of his driver, one who approaches challenges differently than he did in his younger years. “He’s working closely with everybody. He doesn’t come in—I mean, he has a right to. I mean, I get more wound up about running bad. I know he does too, but I think the word we use—we both matured a lot,” says Childress.

Notably, Childress’ comments have its backing from none other than Busch himself. In the last few months, Rowdy has been more acknowledging and humble compared to his younger days. This maturity is not only a result of his years in racing but also his personal growth. Busch is now a father and a husband, and these responsibilities have altered his perspective on racing. The fire to win remains, but his reaction to losing has evolved. Do you think Kyle Busch’s ‘mature’ nature is not helping him on track?