Kyle Busch was hoping to end his winless streak. After his Truck Series triumph at Atlanta Motor Speedway, all eyes were on ‘Rowdy’ going into the 2025 AmBetter Health 400. The Richard Childress Racing driver hasn’t won a Cup Series race since June 4th, 2023 and expectations were high that the No. 8 Chevy might finally prevail at the 1.5-mile oval. However, the second race of the season was full of wrecks, drama, and controversy, forcing the Nevada native to settle for a seventh-place finish.

While it wasn’t the result Busch wanted, the two-time Cup Series champion made peace with the result given his car’s performance. The racer shed light on what went wrong during the race in a candid interview afterward.

Kyle Busch knows what RCR needs to work on going forward

Kyle Busch had his eyes on the prize. After being forced to retire prematurely at the Daytona 500, ‘Rowdy’ was determined to make amends at Atlanta Motor Speedway to kickstart his season on a positive note. He qualified for the 2025 AmBetter Health 400 in eighth place, but an incident with Carson Hocevar towards the end of the first stage forced him to drop several spots and miss out on stage points after the first 60 laps. From then onwards, it was an uphill climb for the Nevada native, who struggled to get the best out of his No. 8 Chevy.

Reflecting on his car’s performance, Kyle Busch said, “I was fast when I could open it up and run when I was out front and leading and even second in line but third in line, I was having trouble with it in traffic. I was kind of slowing up the lane and guys weren’t patient enough to deal with it. You know, they wanted to go by which I get. We got to work on the handle a little bit more and try to get the car to turn a corner a little bit sooner so I can stay in the gas.”

It’s not the first time Busch is having problems in getting performance out of his car. His 2024 season was plagued with performance issues as ‘Rowdy’ and Austin Dillon struggled to get speed in their respective Chevrolets. The team appeared to have turned a corner towards the end of the regular season when the Nevada native secured two runner-up results at Daytona and Darlington. However, Richard Childress Racing fell back to its old ways when the postseason began, resulting in the two-time Cup Series winner ending the season winless.

However, a seventh-place result isn’t the worst outcome. Kyle Busch can take plenty of positives from his race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and look to build on that result at the Circuit of The Americas next. The Richard Childress Racing star is in the last year of his team’s contract, and could very well be fighting for his future in the Cup Series. While 34 races remain on the calendar, ‘Rowdy’ will be eager to break his winless streak as soon as possible to ease the pressure off his shoulders and secure a playoff spot.

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Busch addresses drama with Carson Hocevar

It’s fair to say that Kyle Busch has mellowed with age. The former Joe Gibbs Racing driver had quite a ‘bad-boy’ image back in the day because of his aggressive driving style, outspoken nature, and on-track feuds with other racers. From getting into a fistfight with Joey Logano in 2017 to getting punched by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. in 2024, there is a reason Busch is called ‘Rowdy’.

However, while those patterns have reduced over the years, the Nevada native has not eliminated those traits from his personality entirely. Busch was forced to lift because of Hocevar’s on-track antics towards the end of Stage 1, which cost the racer several track positions. With tempers flaring on the track, the 39-year-old was heard saying on the team radio, “He’s a f–—- d–——, I’m going to wreck his a–.”

However, when the race ended, Busch had a more composed view of the situation and told NBC Sports’ Dustin Long, “He just had a lot of, lot of, lot of close calls. I mean, he wasn’t even clear on me, I had to lift and he put me in the fence off of two in the first stage. So, he’s just trying to plug holes and doing it last second and last minute, and creating log jams on back. It’s just, do it at the end, you know, do it in the last 30 laps, not in the first 230.” 

Busch makes a valid point here as the start of the race determines a lot of the strategy going into the race, especially for fueling and drafting strategies on superspeedways. A wreck early on can set the tone for a bad run. Luckily, Kyle Busch recovered to seventh, but if he didn’t, we might have seen the wrath of Busch unfurl after the race.

Statistically, Kyle Busch has made a worse start to 2025 than he did last year. However, one can’t help but feel that his results need to be taken into context of the circumstances. The Richard Childress Racing star has shown speed and potential in both the Cup Series races so far, all he needs is Lady Luck on his side to potentially snatch a victory the way Christopher Bell did at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Do you think ‘Rowdy’ will end his winless streak in the ongoing Cup Series season? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!