“We’ve Gone Backwards” – Kyle Busch at a Loss for Words as NASCAR Unable to Keep Drivers Happy

NASCAR’s track record on safety has been immaculate for 21 years now. There was a time in NASCAR when the drivers could sit behind the wheel and drive without having to worry much about their safety. But with the advent of Next Generation cars, the top tier of stock car racing is facing a challenge regarding the safety of the drivers. And after witnessing drivers like Cody Ware, Alex Bowman, and Kurt Busch getting injured along their timelines in NASCAR, Kyle Busch considers that these updates are quite the opposite of advancement.

The Next Gen cars are extremely close to each other, almost to the point of being identical as far as the stats go. When speed is the need of the hour and there is practically no way to increase the top speed of your car, drivers resort to desperate measures that often lead to life-threatening accidents.

“Our biggest detriment with this car”, Kyle Busch on the Next Gen cars

The development that was brought along with these cars was the ability to withstand any kind of intrusion or impact on the driver’s cockpit. Ryan Newman received a major impact on the driver’s side roof and window area during the 2020 Daytona 500 while still escaping an accident that could have been far more fatal.

However, the rigidity of the build of these cars makes them more susceptible to the physical force that originates from even the smallest impacts. The rear end of the car does not crumple easily, even if it hits its back against a wall.

During the pre-race interview at Michigan, Kyle Busch revealed his thoughts about the build of the Indy car, which has somewhat more room to improve than the stock cars.

A reporter asked, “Is there one thing that you think we could choose on this car and open it up to kinda create a little bit of speed disparity?”

Busch shook his head and said, “…honestly, I feel like probably that’s (flat underbody) our biggest detriment with this car.”

“We all talked about overbody, underbody, aero, this and that for years, tens of years, and we all thought that the underbody aero was the way to go but honestly, we’ve gone backwards. It’s worse in traffic.” He admitted.

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According to Kyle Busch, it would be more advantageous to scan the underbody of the car with the same scanning device used to scan the floor. However, he also admitted that this is all his opinion. For him, the traffic is what makes winning with next-gen cars so troublesome.

SHR and HMS drivers’ opinions of the Next Gen cars

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In an old video by FOX Sports, Bob Pockrass explains the changes in the arena of racing after the next-generation cars were introduced.

According to the driver of the number 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, Kevin Harvick, what goes underneath the car does not matter so much. For him, the next-gen cars are giving drivers an ample chance to experiment.

He said, “It’s (next-gen cars) trying to make it less about what’s underneath the car and who’s making what, you know, what parts and pieces are an advantage or a disadvantage…these are the parts, these are the pieces. Go out and figure out what you like!”

However, Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports, like Kyle Busch, considers this a step backward.

“You have all these years of experience and knowledge and time of racing and crashing these cars and the teams working on them and building them, and it just blows me away that we can have something new, in 2022, that offers all this technology and all this time and experience of so many just super talented people in this sport, and we allow it to go backwards.” He said, as reported earlier in 2022, in a CBS sports article.

What are your ideas on the next-generation stock cars? Do you think they are better than their older counterparts? Let us know in the comments!

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