In NASCAR’s 75-year history, the question of who gets approved to compete at its highest level has always been a delicate balancing act between opportunity and safety. The recent Phoenix race brought this issue back into sharp focus when Katherine Legge, making her Cup Series debut, spun while being lapped by Josh Berry and collected Daniel Suarez in the resulting crash. Since then Suarez has been vocal about change that needs to be in the approval process, and this has grown into a movement.

Two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch didn’t hold back when addressing NASCAR’s approval process. He launched a scathing assessment based on his unique perspective, stating that the current system is broken. As both — a veteran Cup Series driver and Truck Series team owner, Busch has witnessed NASCAR’s approval system from multiple angles. His criticism comes after recent high-profile debuts by drivers from other racing disciplines, including Katherine Legge at Phoenix and Helio Castroneves at the Daytona 500.

“I feel like I’ve questioned the approval process for a long, long time,” Kyle Busch told reporters ahead of Sunday’s race at Las Vegas. “Being an owner in the Truck Series and seeing some young drivers get opportunities at different tracks versus my drivers that I was trying to get them opportunities at some of those same tracks getting denied. So I was very confused, and probably I’m even more confused now on how it all works. I think it’s broken. I think there’s a lot of work that could be done to make it better.”

The Richard Childress Racing driver went further, specifically targeting those who make these crucial decisions within NASCAR’s leadership structure: “I also do feel as though it shouldn’t be suit and tie making the decisions always. Certainly there can be some that need to be involved, but I do feel like there needs to be fire suits involved in some of those decision-making processes on those that need to be approved or not approved for various activities.”

We saw Shane van Gisbergen make history in his debut attempt at the inaugural Street Race in Chicago. Since then he went on to bag a full-time Xfinity ride, three wins and a seat in the Cup Series. But, again that was a street race, allowing room for NASCAR to make experiments. But when drivers like Helio Castroneves and Katherine Legge fail to deliver similar results, it raises questions on how they were allowed to compete in the first place. You need an FIA super license to compete in Formula 1, that’s handed on the merit and ability of the race car driver. Well, we do not have such a thing in NASCAR.

Busch extended his criticism beyond driver approvals to NASCAR’s penalty system, specifically referencing the controversial incident at Circuit of the Americas where Austin Cindric intentionally hooked Ty Dillon but wasn’t suspended: “And I’ll even go so far to say, too, that I feel the same way on driver penalties, the Austin-Cindric deal. I don’t think suit and ties should be making that. I think you should get penalized by your peers.” Busch and Ty Dillon had previously spoken about how they felt Cindric was let off the hook by NASCAR despite blatantly wrecking the No. 10 Chevy at COTA.

The timing of Busch’s comments is particularly notable following Katherine Legge’s difficult Cup Series debut at Phoenix. Despite her impressive resume in IndyCar and sports car racing, including four Indianapolis 500 starts and multiple IMSA victories, Legge had limited stock car experience with only five previous Xfinity Series starts and one ARCA race earlier this year. During the Phoenix race, while being lapped by Josh Berry on the high line, Legge made contact and spun, collecting Daniel Suarez who had nowhere to go.

As NASCAR continues to attract talent from diverse racing backgrounds, Busch’s pointed criticism raises fundamental questions about the sanctioning body’s governance philosophy. Should racing executives alone determine who’s ready for Cup competition, or should those decisions include input from the very competitors who understand the unique challenges of NASCAR racing?

It’s not just Rowdy who’s calling out NASCAR’s inconsistency and lapses with regard to how they handle non-NASCAR drivers competing at the top level. Denny Hamlin from the JGR camp expressed similar concerns demanding a strict process.

Denny Hamlin sides with Busch in his complaints about the approval process

Busch’s criticism isn’t outlandish. Forget about having an approval process in place, NASCAR in fact is incentivizing non-NASCAR drivers to race in the Cup Series. Thanks to the Open Exemption Provisional policy, a superstar driver from another racing series would be guaranteed a spot in the field. Ideally, NASCAR would want the best drivers to compete in their premier series, but with the OEP in place a lot of people might try their hands at Cup racing.

Helio Castroneves, despite his success in the Indy Car, struggled and ended his races in the Xfinity and Cup with a crash. So there’s a need for a process that filters drivers and allows them to race based on their merit not through sponsorship money or big-name status. “I hate this, the way it played out last week because I feel bad for Katherine. But it does open eyes, and it should open eyes to NASCAR. We’re not very strict about who gets to run Cup cars, and it should be the most elite series. You shouldn’t be able to just come in whenever you want. I don’t know how all this works, but certainly, you’d like to see it a little bit more strict than what it is.” Hamlin said.

Forget about the non-NASCAR drivers, remember how tough it was for Jimmie Johnson to get back to racing in the Gen 7 car. In 2024 he found himself on the bitter ends of crashes and wrecks and that’s the harsh reality of modern-day NASCAR racing. It also goes on to show the skill and mastery required from a driver to excel at this level, so handing freebies is like disrespecting their hard work and commitment. So the ball is now in NASCAR’s court and it will be interesting to see how they deal with this criticism that’s coming their way.