Kyle Busch Defied Denny Hamlin’s Prediction During the 2024 Daytona 500

Superspeedway racing is just not the same anymore in the NASCAR Cup Series. This was evident while watching the Daytona 500. As expected, it was more fuel-mileage racing, which is a tactic teams and drivers have been using of late. The strategy that is mainly used to conserve fuel has, for sure, has changed the nature of racing, and while most of the drivers choose to refrain from sharing their thoughts on such an experience, Denny Hamlin has come out to criticize it. Speaking on his podcast ‘Actions Detrimental’, he once again demanded more horsepower for the Next Gen car and added that it is not feasible for drivers to pull out of the line and challenge the cars ahead of them. But proving his theory wrong was RCR’s star driver, Kyle Busch, who showed everybody how it’s done during this year’s Daytona 500.

Kyle Busch setting to tone on how to deal with fuel mileage racing

For better or worse, most of the Cup Series drivers seemed to be engaged in drafting while racing at the Daytona International Speedway. What this does is allow the cars to capitalize on reduced air resistance and conserve fuel. However, according to Denny Hamlin, this also means that the cars are often stuck in a line because breaking the line would mean a sudden increase in air resistance that would force a driver to fall back on the racing grid.  Hamlin did find himself in a similar situation during Monday’s race and let’s just say he was not a fan of it.

“You cannot get to the front anymore, you can’t go to a middle lane or third lane like you used to. The best idea is to stay in line,” the driver said. However, a recently emerged video that seemed to show Busch outrunning his opponents by breaking out the “line” seemed to prove Hamlin’s theory wrong. The #8 driver expertly made his way through the field and managed to get past at least half a dozen cars in the snippet. Sharing the video of the same, even NASCAR community members seemed to be having a field day by taking digs at Hamlin’s take. “Remember folks Denny Hamlin said you can’t pull out of line and pass people because you’ll go straight to the back Well Kyle Busch just proved his a** wrong, “ a user wrote.

Read More : Denny Hamlin’s 14- Minute Rant About “Hard to Watch” Daytona Triggers NASCAR Investigation

It’s safe to say that not everyone races like Kyle Busch, but he certainly has the experience, the skill, and above all, the will to pull off moves like that. However, we cannot discredit Hamlin’s opinions either. With the advent of Next-Gen cars, many insiders have opined how today’s stock cars are pretty much identical and how that makes passing a cumbersome task. So Hamlin is partly accurate in his opinion about improving overall Superspeedway racing. And like every time, he did hand out NASCAR some suggestions that they could work with.

Denny Hamlin’s idea of an entertaining race on Superspeedway tracks

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For all the troubles and his heroics in the Daytona 500, Kyle Busch had to be content with a P12 finish. In fact, the drivers who were on point with the fuel mileage tactics and taking the shot at the perfect opportunity came out on top. It was far from competitive racing at Daytona, and this prompted Hamlin to hand out suggestions to improvise and tune the Next Gen for a better overall racing product.

“In my opinion, If I had the knobs to turn on the Cup Series to make the Superspeedway racing better., it is to put it back like it used to be in a sense of, they need to run faster by themselves. To do that, they need to take some of the spoiler off to create more of the bubble so we’re not running into each other.”

Unfortunately for Hamlin, the fuel mileage racing is not going away anytime soon. As a matter of fact, all the drivers will be pulling out similar tricks when racing this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.