Kyle Busch Drops Damning 4-Word Verdict on NASCAR Stars Lost ‘Respect’ as He Echoes Tony Stewart’s Lesson

In the early 2000s, NASCAR’s unwritten code was clear – race hard but race smart. Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin exemplified an era where “give and take” on the track meant something. Fast forward to 2025, Kyle Busch has issued a damning verdict on today’s young NASCAR talent that has the racing world talking.

During a revealing conversation on Kevin Harvick’s “Happy Hour” YouTube show, Busch reflected on how NASCAR’s racing culture has fundamentally shifted. The 39-year-old veteran, with 63 Cup Series wins to his name, didn’t mince words when comparing his generation of drivers to today’s emerging talents, painting a picture of a sport where the art of racing has been replaced by a different philosophy.

Kyle Busch is a two-time Cup Series champion and holds the record for the most wins across all three of NASCAR’s national series (232), so when he commands respect, it means something. And it’s not like Busch was born into the sport with bucketloads of success. He worked his way through the losses and brash antics, and one name that stood out through his learning curve was none other than Tony Stewart.

When Smoke imparted wisdom to Rowdy

“Tony Stewart,” Kyle Busch immediately answered when Kevin Harvick asked if any driver had ever taken him aside for guidance. The story that followed revealed how a young Kyle Busch, before claiming his first Cup victory, had angered Tony Stewart during a race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “I made him mad at Vegas. In the last 25 laps of the race. I cut him off a couple of times. He tried to get back at me and missed and ended up fencing himself,” Busch recounted. After months of tension, Stewart finally called Busch to his bus through his business manager Eddie, delivering advice that would shape his career: “You’re young, you’re fast… you’re going to be a multiple-time winner, champion… you just have to figure out how to rein it all in and be in control”

Tony Stewart and Busch raced together at Joe Gibbs Racing for merely one season, after which Stewart moved on to Stewart-Haas Racing. While the two have had their fair share of battles on track, competing for championships in the 2010s, it was Stewart who was the senior driver, already winning two championships by the time Busch was in his rookie year, so Busch listened. However, Busch doesn’t feel he gets the same respect from the grid, despite being the most successful active driver in the Cup Series.

When asked why he doesn’t mentor younger drivers the same way, Kyle Busch delivered his four-word verdict that echoed like a death knell for racing etiquette: “There is no fixing”. He continued, “What we’ve got going right now with everybody running over everybody,” he explained with evident frustration. “They would much rather crash than win a race. I don’t get it.”

Well, this paints the picture of the current state of NASCAR. As new talent comes in attempting to prove their mettle amongst the best. While some do it by racing clean, like Christopher Bell, who was mentored by Kyle Busch during the former’s time at Kyle Busch Motorsports, some opt for ruffling feathers instead. One such driver is sophomore Carson Hocevar.

After winning the 2024 Rookie of the Year, Hocevar was over the moon. He entered 2025 brimming with confidence as Spire Motorsports embarked on a journey to becoming a “mini Hendrick” with their alliance with Hendrick Motorsports. However, results have been hard to come by this season for Hocevar, despite the lightning pace, and his best finish of the season, involved ruffling feathers of the entire grid.

At Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hocevar finished 2nd place, the best of his career so far. But he did it by bumping into Ryan Blaney while entering a Turn, and sliding up Kyle Busch multiple times during the race, among other transgressions. Busch was fuming on his radio, as he said, “Go tell that 77 he’s done that same f—— move ten times. I don’t care if I wreck the whole f—— field, I’m over him… I’m going to wreck his ass.” However, this wasn’t even the first time Hocevar angered Rowdy.

Their history dates back nearly a decade to Michigan’s Kalamazoo Speedway, where a teenage Hocevar first crossed paths with Busch. “When he was 13, 14 years old… I was racing at one of his home tracks… Lap 8, Lap 11, somewhere early in the race,” Busch recalled. “He comes right up alongside of me, sideswipes me, puts me into the front stretch fence and goes on.” Most telling to Kyle Busch was what didn’t happen afterward: “Never nothing after the fact, never a sorry, ‘Hey, my bad.’ Like, same thing right now. He hasn’t learned not one thing because he hasn’t been under someone’s wing this entire time.”

While Hocevar’s disrespect remains fresh in Rowdy’s memory, he has bigger challenges to tackle at the moment. The Richard Childress Racing driver currently sits on a 62-race winless streak, the longest of his career, and has come close numerous times to breaking it, if not for wrecks. This is where his distaste for modern racing stems from. From getting wrecked at COTA last year by Christopher Bell, to being raced clean this year, Busch sees some hope in change. However, after the Hocevar debacle at the start of 2025, it seems like everything is back to square one.

What do you think? Does Kyle Busch make a valid point about modern-day drivers? Let us know in the comments!