Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch recently gave his verdict on a topic that has garnered major interest from the world of global motorsports. Busch’s fellow competitor in the Cup Series, Kyle Larson has been talking about his abilities when compared to reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen with the Hendrick Motorsports driver not shying away from putting himself first in line.
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Busch expressed a level of jealousy ahead of the sport’s visit to Darlington Raceway this weekend over how he never initiated similar talks regarding his dominant era in NASCAR with Joe Gibbs Racing along with Lewis Hamilton’s run of seven F1 world championships.
“There once was a time when Lewis Hamilton and Kyle Busch were the dominant guys and this conversation never happened so I’m jealous, frankly. But maybe it didn’t happen because I didn’t bring on the conversation myself,” the 39-year-old told the media.
Many people know there have been 41 drivers to win in NASCARs top 3 Divisions. But there have been just 6 (that I can confirm) to win in Cup, Xfinity, Truck, ARCA, ARCA West, and ARCA East.
Chase Elliott
Cole Custer
Joey Logano
Ken Schrader
Kyle Busch
Kyle Larson pic.twitter.com/bFFFofUsLG— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) February 23, 2023
Busch further elaborated on how the driving styles of the two sports compare to one another with the vastly different styles of cars and what they require from their drivers during a race. “I would say that you have seen guys do better going from our realm to the other one. I don’t know if it’s a pure downforce thing or not, but those guys seem to just drive pure beyond the limits of the car and the car will take it.”
That comes in stark contrast to how stock cars have been driven for decades, including the Next-Gen car, opined Busch, “Over here you have to have a lot more finesse and so you just kind of see guys not understand the finesse part and where the grip is without just going over it.”
A great example of the same came through with Danica Patrick’s switch from the NTT IndyCar Series to NASCAR. She seemingly struggled throughout her stock car career after being used to driving open-wheeled cars with high downforce.
“Kyle’s got a better shot than Max”
Building on the same argument, the Richard Childress Racing driver further went on the record to take sides with his countryman in a contest of who would be able to adapt to the other’s discipline quicker, “I would say Kyle’s probably got a better shot than Max.”
While a direct matchup between the two champions of different genres of motorsports is unlikely to happen any time soon, maybe such debates call for the return of the International Race of Champions where stars from different realms can compete against each other on an unbiased middle ground.
Meanwhile, the sport prepares to go racing from Darlington Raceway this Sunday, concluding the 2024 regular season. Several drivers such as Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace go into the race with the intent to win their way into the postseason, which could lead to a potentially chaotic event.
It remains to be seen whether the Southern 500 produces a new winner this season, or a past winner solidifies his championship bid further.
