Kyle Busch Warns the Grid of the “Hardest” Challenge at Repaved Sonoma Raceway

Are we even watching Kyle Busch race this season? From what it seems, the #8 car has been carrying the shelf of his former self lately. Nevertheless, this Sunday at the Toyota/Save Mart 350, Rowdy holds a renewed chance to prove his haters wrong at the brand-new surface of Sonoma. Earlier this year, The 12-turn road circuit in the heart of California’s wine country experienced not one, but two repaves for the first time in 23 seasons.

Some might remember the reasons for laying down an additional 600 pounds of asphalt on Turn 11 after an initial 1 million-dollar resurface project brought about some major embarrassment. But heading to that racetrack shortly, Kyle Busch has his eyes fixated on Turn 11 for a completely different reason. Contrary to what many would normally assume: it is not because of the brand new pavement. Instead, Kyle Busch notices a barrier is set in concrete, within the twists and turns at Sonoma. And this one could have graver consequences than his sub-par outings in the #8 Richard Childress Chevy this season.

The new concrete wall at Sonoma throws Kyle Busch a curve

Leading up to the hilly Sears Point road course’s June date, controversy erupted around the nature of its first patch-up in April. First, videos online of two reported layers of their ‘special asphalt mix’ peeling off the recently repaved surface around Turn 11 put Speedway Motorsports LLC, also known as SMI (owners of the racetrack) in a bad light. Then Denny Hamlin, and the CEO of SMI, Marcus Smith were at odds against each other on social media, trading nasty jabs over the gravity of the ‘resurfaced’ issue. Those tweets have since been deleted, with the track receiving another fresh coat of asphalt on that defamed turn.

Although reasons for Sonoma’s initial disintegration remain under speculation, the operations manager for the process, Eric Barker told the North Bay Business Journal, “The subsurface water shows there’s not a lot of drainage there.” Considering the low-lying Sonoma Valley area experienced an uncharacteristically “wet winter” last year, Barker speculates that these cumulative reasons may have probably brought the unpleasant developments on the racetrack.

But to bring even more attention to their restructured details, the track received a concrete wall in place of the tire barriers on Turn 11 to “fix” an apparent mistake. It is safe to say, that the unforeseen ‘twist’ in the narrative caught the eyes of many drivers hoping to stake a claim at one of the 7 remaining playoff spots at Sonoma. And Kyle Busch was only one of the few worried about what seems to be his “hardest” obstacle this year on its 1.99-mile “chute” layout.

Talking to the media about his perceived changes to the new pavement before his race, Busch explained, “I don’t think it’s going to be any different really. Just faster pace, the same areas to pass or the same areas to pass, but with a lot more grip…” However, he added his voice to the chorus of fellow drivers including Denny Hamlin & William Byron, who think the “visual” adjustment essentially converts the hairpin into a “blind” turn, when asked about his views on the matter through discussions via Frontstretch.

As Busch explained, “Turn 11 is different, yeah for sure. The visual is way different and I don’t know how it’s going to be in traffic. I haven’t been behind anybody through there. But where your eyes are looking anyway, you’re just tracking the top of that wall. So I mean it’s hard to see through all the stuff that’s on the right side of the windshield if there is a spin or something like that to avoid…. That’ll probably be the hardest part.”  He emphasized to conclude, “No, the corner doesn’t really drive any differently.”

Ironically, as we stand, Busch is the lowest qualifying Richard Childress car for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 race, set to roll off the grid in P29. Nevertheless, the new surface allowed pole-winner Joey Logano a considerably positive lap differential of about four seconds on Denny Hamlin’s qualifying lap for the P1 spot from last year. But with Busch slowing down in a rapid decline of around 27 starting spots from 2023, it begs the question: is the track or the equipment that has manifested Rowdy’s concern?

Is it the driver or the car… or is it the track?

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Two-time Cup champ, Kyle Busch will be starting behind teammates Austin Dillon (P16) and Australian V8 Supercars sensation Will Brown (P24) who is making his NASCAR debut for RCR at Sonoma. This is not a good look for a driver who trails Martin Truex Jr as the second-winningest at the racetrack. KFB boasts two wins compared to MTJ’s three, but both their seasons could not be running any more different, albeit neither has claimed a win yet in 2024. The Joe Gibbs #19 wheelman has finished inside the top 10 thrice and the top 5 four times in the first 15 races. His #8 rival, on the other hand, has made the top 5 only half as many times in the same timeframe.

In simple words, Kyle Busch has just not been able to display the dominance that fans worldwide expect from a driver who has won a race in each of his 19 full-time seasons gracing the NASCAR Cup Series. Last week at Gateway the icon admitted to having a way slower car than he did during his 2023 triumph at the same racetrack after colliding with Kyle Larson to end his race early on a DNF. Contrastingly, Larson managed to claw his way back to a P10 finish, signifying vast differences in the organizational oversight between teams like Hendrick Motorsports and a lately-faltering Richard Childress Racing.

Arguably, Rowdy’s woes are not as self-inflicted as they appear on the surface. As for his demeanor and aggressive style of driving? That has been trademark to a nearly two-decade-long career that has birthed 63 Premier Series race wins. Regardless, he can rest assured knowing the track limit on Turn 11 has only been put in place to “protect the integrity of the racing line,” according to a senior Sonoma representative on the official NASCAR website.

According to the report, the track official stated that contact from cars in recent years resulted in the temporary tire barriers “moving by up to 20 feet during the course of a race.” Many are still undecided over the actual impact this may warrant when the green drops with some brand new K-rails awaiting the brave men at 12:30 PM EST. But will Kyle Busch find a way to run through this obstacle and the ones facing him in the grander scheme of things that is his scrutinized 2024 season? We find out at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 on Sunday.