The transition to NASCAR’s Next Gen race car hasn’t been kind to Kyle Busch.
In 2022, the year of the Next Gen’s introduction into the NASCAR Cup Series, Busch stole a win on Bristol dirt when Chase Briscoe and Tyler Reddick collided in front of him. That was his only victory in his final season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch won three times in 2023 after a move to Richard Childress Racing, but he feels that other teams have made progress with the setups of the car that RCR hasn’t matched.
“Last year, we were good out of the gate,” Busch said. “We had some good stuff, and then as times have changed, the setups have evolved, and guys have found how to make their stuff go faster. We just haven’t been able to do that.”
Busch has 63 victories to his credit, most among active Cup Series drivers, but he hasn’t achieved the level of comfort with the new car that Denny Hamlin and Kyle Larson have, for example.
“It definitely drives different than the old car,” Busch said. “What that is, I’m not exactly sure… When you lean into the corner and the right-front is outside the right-rear, the car is much tighter. When you get to the center off of the corner and the right-front is inside the right-rear coming downhill, it’s much looser.
“And so, trying to find that balance of that has been difficult, trying to get that right. But the old car didn’t have that sensation. It was easy to just make a smooth corner and have the balance stay the same the whole time, where now I feel like I’m fighting many more balance issues.”
The last two weeks have showed promise, however. Busch won the pole and finished fourth at Dover. At Kansas last Sunday, he ran consistently in the top five and rallied from a late spin to finish eighth.
He will start 11th Sunday.
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