Starting the race from the P8 position, Kyle Busch advanced up to the second position during the restart on Lap 30. But, after being overtaken by Ryan Preece and Chase Briscoe, Busch slid back to tenth by Lap 75 and completed Stage 1 in fifteenth place. His struggles continued, landing him in P24 by the end of the second stage, though he rallied to finish the race in tenth. Despite this recovery, Busch expressed significant frustration with the track’s lack of opportunities for overtaking amid the race.
Advertisement
Recorded on his dash-cam, Busch aired his grievances about the difficulty in passing, criticizing the track and the tight grouping of the field.
However, a few NASCAR fans speculated that the issue might lie not with the track but with Busch himself, suggesting that his inability to execute passes might be a personal shortfall, especially since other drivers seemed to navigate these challenges successfully.
One race fan quipped, “Still whining after all these years,” while another observed, “Well, Blaney didn’t have a problem passing. Just saying,” highlighting that Blaney, who started just behind Busch in ninth, worked his way up to a fifth-place finish, navigating past competitors and even leading two laps.
Echoing this sentiment, another fan remarked, “Blaney passed about 50 cars.”
Kyle Busch pops off on his radio about how difficult it is to pass in this race pic.twitter.com/rRbzVvPiVL
— Steven Taranto (@STaranto92) April 6, 2025
Another fan suggested, “Tell him to go race in Brexton’s series if he wants to pass more cars,” poking fun at Busch’s struggles by comparing his performance to that of lower-tier races.
Meanwhile, William Byron, after winning the pole position, led the majority of the race, indicating the challenges faced by the rest of the field in making passes since no one could surpass him until the final stage. Drivers like Ryan Preece, Denny Hamlin, Bubba Wallace, and others struggled to advance.
In fact, if it were not for the green-flag pit stops in the final stage, Byron would have easily won the Goodyear 400 at Darlington.
That’s why the upcoming race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be even more interesting. The short track where the Next Gen cars have struggled to present good races, with drivers running in tighter packs, could intensify the difficulty in overtaking due to the parity brought by the Gen-7 cars.
However, it remains to be seen if the upcoming race will echo last year’s, which was unusual for a record-breaking 54 lead changes.