NASCAR Took Away Kyle Busch’s Superpower, Handicapping Him After His Move to RCR

With the Next Gen era of the Cup Series now in full swing, newer faces like Christopher Bell and William Byron are cementing themselves as frontrunners. Unfortunately, the veterans of the sport don’t seem to be faring as well. Not only has Chase Elliott been under immense pressure to reclaim his road course crown, but Kyle Busch also finds himself under major stress. But this time, ‘Rowdy’ Busch’s grievances lie not with the competition but with the car underneath his feet.

The Next-Gen car could be Kyle Busch’s Achilles’ heel

It’s no secret that Kyle Busch’s career seems to have entered a slump ever since the Next Gen car debuted in 2022. With only 1 win, 8 top fives, and a final ranking of 13th, the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Camry had entered quite the downward spiral. So when an engine failure at Darlington ended his hopes of one last win for JGR, the star turned his attention to Richard Childress Racing.

Unfortunately, this stint, too, seems to have fallen short of expectations so far. Despite winning 3 races in his debut year for RCR, Busch ended the year ranked 14th in the standings. For a driver used to the top five, this fall from grace was hard to accept. But even in 2024, Busch still seems to be struggling to get back to the form we all know and love. This prompted Kevin Harvick and Mamba Smith to highlight the key factor holding Kyle Busch back after the Next Gen car was introduced.

Speaking on Harvick’s Happy Hour podcast, Smith stated, “I was talking to Kyle Busch behind the stage, and I’m like, ‘You have intermittent speed, I feel like. One run, you’re going to the front,’ and then he’s like, ‘Yep, and then the next run, we’re junk.’” Explaining Busch’s reasoning for it, Smith added, “He’s like, ‘What made me great, and what made me who I was in the old car, I can’t do all those things here, it’s a challenge.’”

While drivers like William Byron are nailing qualifying lap times every weekend, Busch and other drivers who were dominant in the previous era are struggling to keep up. Kevin Harvick reflected on his experience with the Next Gen car and shared, “Your circle of life has to be different with this car. I’m telling you, it takes more time, work, and effort to be good at this. Because of the increments in how you do things, they’re smaller. It’s harder to find speed.” 

Highlighting the troubles drivers like Elliott and Busch are facing, the NASCAR veteran felt that Kyle Busch’s approach to the car’s setup just didn’t work anymore. He explained, “With the old car, you didn’t have to do anything. You could go to the simulator, and in five minutes, you could say, ‘Yup, we need to do this.’ Or we go to the racetrack, get down with the first run [and figure it out]. Not the case for Kyle Busch anymore, because everything has changed.”

Revealing that Busch’s biggest strengths lay in his ability to convey needed changes, Harvick felt that none applied to the Next Gen car anymore. He added, “Kyle Busch was always the one who could do and tell you everything that was wrong with the car in one run. And once he was done with that and we switched to the Next Gen car, all those things that he was talking about, are irrelevant. That’s all new lingo and all new conversation.”

While some fans have brought up the success of veterans like Martin Truex Jr as a comeback to Busch’s “excuses,” Kevin Harvick believes that the situation with Rowdy is rather different.

Harvick reveals what gives other veterans an edge over Busch

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Despite the Next Gen car posing a major challenge for the veterans of the sport who have needed to relearn the cars they drive, some have come out on top regardless. While Martin Truex Jr sits 1st in the 2024 standings with 4 top 10s and 1 top 5, fellow veteran Denny Hamlin isn’t too far behind, with 1 win, 1 top 5, and 2 top 10s helping him up to 4th in the standings after COTA. Naturally, the results of other veterans may reflect poorly on Kyle Busch’s 13th place, the same position as the one he left JGR with at the end of 2022.

However, Kevin Harvick mentioned why the #8 RCR driver was struggling so much compared to his peers. Looking back on Kyle Busch’s glory days, Harvick felt Busch’s ability to diagnose the car accurately on his own helped to a great extent, but now that there was a lack of practice time, it is rather difficult. Earlier, it was easy for the teams to work in tandem with Busch and leave the setup up to him, but now, this is certainly not the case.

After accounting for the Next Gen car’s changes, Harvick revealed what he believes gives other veterans an edge over Busch. He stated, “Martin Truex has been right in the middle of it, but I think his team has also helped bridge that gap and try to figure some of those things out too because the cars are fast. I think it’s different when you’re in Kyle’s situation where you’re trying to help figure out how to make the cars better too when you don’t really know exactly what pushes the button on this car.”

With the pressure on the #8 RCR driver on the rise to restore his competitive spirit, do you think Kyle Busch has lost his golden touch?

READ MORE: Kyle Busch Could Bring back “Rowdy” as His Frustration With Drivers Reaches Boiling Point