Tyler Reddick & Veteran Insider Reveal Kurt Busch’s Exceptional Abilities That Make Him an Indispensable Part of 23XI Racing

23XI Racing’s rise to prominence in NASCAR can be accredited to many factors. From the able ownership of Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan to the young and improving core of Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace, the organization has done many things right. However, the driver who paved the way for their success in the Cup Series was 2004 champion Kurt Busch.

Busch announced his retirement from the sport earlier this year after failing to recover from recurring concussions following an unfortunate crash at Pocono last year. Despite his unavailability on the track, he has ensured he proves his worth. Appearing on the Door Bumper Clear podcast, Tyler Reddick and the No.23 spotter Freddie Kraft shed light on Busch’s importance to the team and how he has made a difference even without racing.

Freddie Kraft reveals Kurt Busch’s deep understanding of race cars

How 23XI Racing operates as an organization is an exemplary display of teamwork. While several crew members are responsible for a specific car in the garage, most of the 23XI personnel work together to solve the problems irrespective of the car or driver.

Freddie Kraft has been a constant presence on Bubba Wallace’s team radio. Apart from that, he has also had his experience with Kurt Busch. Kraft is a big fan of Busch, who has been a leading figure in the team and a mentor for budding talents. To summarize things, one could call him a difference-maker within the organization. However, one aspect of Busch that caught Kraft by surprise was his eye for detail regarding race cars.

“When Kurt came over, we began having meetings a couple of hours before the race every week. All the engineers, spotters, drivers, and crew chiefs,” stated Kraft.

“The amount of detail he can go into… Somebody was like, track tightens up here, but Kurt would be like, ‘Listen, at the end of this first run, at such and such racetrack, the car’s going to get tight, but don’t worry about it. It’s just the nature of this beast; don’t free the car up because it’s just that run. If you free it up, you’re going to lose the second run. He could tell you what the car is going to do at one point in run and lap, and this time of the day, and I was like, holy sh*t.”   

Being a 34-time race winner in the Cup Series, Kurt Busch has used his experience and acquaintance with race cars in such a way that it has maximized the team’s output. As the podcast continued, 23XI driver Tyler Reddick described how he fell in awe of Kurt’s analyzing abilities.

Busch knew more about the No.45 car than Tyler Reddick did

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Tyler Reddick’s growth at 23XI Racing has been phenomenal. The former Richard Childress Racing driver had a great season in 2023 and was one of the dark horses to compete in the championship race. While that didn’t materialize, he showed massive improvement at various race tracks throughout the season and even won in the first round of the playoffs.

Part of the reason behind his growth also lies with Kurt Busch. Busch has been at the trackside monitoring the races of the #23 and #45 cars, constantly providing the drivers with his input. Owing to that, both of the team’s drivers raced in the playoffs this season and look forward to doing better in 2024.

Reddick had some praise for Busch’s expertise, as he affirmed Kraft’s opinion, and claimed, “I swear he knows what’s going on with my car than I do. He’s up there looking at SMT, and I’m driving it. He knows what is happening with my car more than I do. I try to get better in that regard, and it’s taken time.”

Busch had also described his post-retirement role in the team once, in a conversation with Racing America. He revealed,

“Our motto at 23XI is, ‘Forward Together,’ and we do a lot of unique things within our structure to make sure the amount of crew members that are working on these cars are committed to both the No. 23 and the No. 45.”

Overall, Kurt has been a great team player and made sure that he can help the organization in every way possible. Maybe in the future, we could see him guide either Tyler Reddick or Bubba Wallace to a championship win.

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