Being a driver in NASCAR means you have got to be an excellent manager of time. Drivers travel across the country every single weekend to race cars, and it is all extremely demanding, both physically and mentally. This is the challenge that Kyle Busch mentioned when asked what the hardest part about being a NASCAR driver was in 2017.
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The two-time Cup Series champion was in a conversation with Jeff Gluck when the question was put in front of him. He responded, “My hardest job away from the racetrack I guess would just be travel. Traveling every single week, going to the events back and forth, I think that’s challenging. Our schedule is pretty demanding. We start it now and it’s 38 weeks straight.”
The grind doesn’t stop once the racing season ends. Busch is a father of two, and he has familial duties to fulfill when he is not racing. Before last season, he was also a team owner in the Craftsman Truck Series. Team ownership requires an insane amount of attention and money. Which is precisely why he decided to sell Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2023.
He added, “I wear a lot of different hats. And what hat I’m wearing at particular moments, it’s hard for me to remember. But I try to position myself well for each of those situations.” In addition to these roles, he also serves as a philanthropist through the Kyle Busch Foundation which he runs along with his wife, Samantha.
Busch explains how NASCAR is tough for team members as well
It would be no exaggeration to say that it takes a village to run a race team. Operations and results are not dependent on just the driver. The demands of the game hit crew members as hard as they do the men behind the wheel. Busch touched upon the same and noted, “This sport is very demanding. It’s not just demanding for media or drivers, it’s also big for team members.”
“They work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. They’re off Thursday, but they’re flying Thursday sometimes at 3 in the afternoon to go to a venue. And then they work from 8 a.m. until midnight or sometimes 2, 3, 4 a.m. on Sundays, getting home on that Monday morning.” To sustain through such schedules and still perform is no easy task.
The reward for all the hard work lies in those minutes that the team spends watching their driver capture a good finish. Heading to the beginning of the 2025 season, Busch must know he hasn’t given enough of those minutes to his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team. He will hope to set his world in balance over the next few months.
