DARLINGTON, S.C.: Could there be a light at the end of the tunnel for Kyle Busch?
Following consecutive top-10 finishes—including last weekend’s eighth-place comeback at Kansas Speedway—Busch is beginning to regain his mojo behind the wheel of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
Still, finding the sweet spot with the Next Gen car has taken longer than expected for the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.
“It definitely drives different than the old car,” Busch said. “What that is, I’m not exactly sure. It seems, 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.
“And on top of fighting those balance issues by yourself, throw in the aero deficiencies that you have in traffic, and now you’re just confused. You think that you’re going to expect it to do one thing, and it does something else and you lose a tenth of a second because you’re trying to garner that feel of what it is.”
With the difference in qualifying separating the field by 1.037 seconds in practice at Kansas Speedway last week and 1.875 seconds in qualifying, small gains can be significant.
“We’re literally all grasping at half of a tenth of a second to be the best car on the race track,” Busch said. “Many of our pace studies that come out after these races—two-tenths is the difference between first and 25th.
“So you’re literally grasping at very small gains to move yourself up that pylon.”
While his slow start to the 2024 NASCAR Cup season was curious, particularly after winning three races last season at RCR, no one ever questioned the driver. Although some pundits might point to his new team for holding Busch back, the driver’s average finish of 16.7 in his Joe Gibbs Racing swan song was worse than last season or this one so far.
In the first 12 races of the last two seasons, Busch has posted five top-10 finishes. The contrast lies in wins and top-five results. Busch enjoyed victories at Auto Club Speedway and Talladega prior to Darlington in 2023. He also finished second at Circuit of the Americas. This year, the No. 8 team’s best result was third at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He also finished fourth at Dover Motor Speedway two weeks ago.
Earlier in the season, Busch was plagued with a rash of pit road issues. RCR swapped several pit crew members around before landing on the current crew. The moves seemed to help and Busch admits, ‘It has gotten better.” He appreciates the continuity, the consistency and the hard work his crew has put forth to improve.
Yet with the organization located 50 to 60 miles to the northeast of the hub of NASCAR, it’s difficult to recruit top talent. And the pressure has never been greater for the athletes that go over the wall.
“It’s very hard to pass with the aero deficiencies in traffic and the aero blocking and mirror driving—whatever the popular term of the day is,” Busch said. “So your time to shine and pass guys is the two-tenths, three-tenths, half of a second, one second—whatever you have on pit road between the pit crews. That’s the greatest separation right now.
“The closer that those get, it’s going to be even harder to pass there, too.”
Busch has advocated removing the rearview mirror and camera. If it was up to him, the only remaining mirror would be on the left side of the cars, “so you can double check in case someone bombs you.”
Busch understands that eliminating those tools will put the responsibility back on the spotters.
“The money you save on cameras and mirrors will probably have to go to the roof,” Busch said. “It will come down to the relationship that you have with your spotter and how good your spotter is at describing the line in which you need to be in to block those behind you.
“But I think that gives you a separation point. The camera or the mirror right now is zero separation. You can literally watch that thing and go instantly, right? There’s no delay time. Where from the roof, there’s delay time. That gives you some separation.”
Busch is currently 12th in the Cup standings with 14 races remaining to determine the Playoff grid. While silly season continues to heat up, don’t expect the 39-year-old racer’s name to enter the conversation.
“I have a contract so I’m where I’m at,” Busch said. “There was a multi-year deal when I signed, which means I’m there still.
“Richard (Childress) has been great. Everybody has been very fair. There has always been open time to talk and communicate, and I feel the last two weeks have been a good turn in the right direction—which is hugely positive. So hopefully that will pay dividends down the road.”
Follow Lee Spencer on Twitter @CandiceSpencer or email her at: [email protected].
