Kyle Busch is not a fan of the fuel-saving strategies teams use at superspeedways. However, he has adapted to it and has been forced to employ it in recent years.
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Ahead of Sunday’s race at Talladega, the two-time Cup Series champion explained what it is like to race at such drafting-style tracks in the Next Gen car.
He said that the car drives alright now that the teams aren’t trying to get the back of the car down by tinkering with different setups. But he still has issues with the race’s cadence, and of course, the fuel-saving strategies that stifle him.
“The cadence of the race is not very good,” said Busch. “That’s not very fun. It’s really hard to get runs or any sort of separation. Especially with the fuel-saving. Shorter time on pit road is how you pass guys. That’s no fun.”
Busch has already made his suggestions to the officials. Beyond that, there isn’t a lot he could do to correct this. After the 2024 Daytona 500, he was seething in anger and disgust that drivers would opt to race at half-throttle in a bid to save fuel instead of fighting tooth and nail to win races.
“We were all sitting around there running half-throttle, not passing, and just riding in a line. I felt disgraceful, myself, being a race car driver— wanting to go fast, lead laps, and win the Daytona 500, and that was our strategy that we had to employ at the start of the race because everybody was doing it,” Busch said after the 2024 Daytona 500.
A year later, he has come to the understanding that such strategies are the only way to reach Victory Lane. And his words this week were in stark contrast to what he said last year.
“A lot of times it’s just better and it’s easier, and it’s safer to just ride in line, part throttle, and save fuel. So it’s definitely a whole new arena that we’ve got to get used to what speedway racing is,” said Busch at Talladega.
The Next Gen car’s aerodynamics have also changed the way drafting techniques are employed.
Busch’s opinion on NASCAR’s effort to keep cars from flying
Dr. Eric Jacuzzi, NASCAR’s vice president of vehicle performance innovation and aerodynamics, confirmed recently on the Inside The Race podcast that they are creating a new flap that will be attached to the A-post of cars.
It will function like a roof flap, making it a lot more difficult for cars to lift off the ground. It is being developed after continuous cases of cars getting airborne during races.
However, it is a safety measure still under development, and it is not ready for use at Talladega this year.
“You would like to have anything like that as soon as you possibly could get it. Have it on the race cars coming to places like this. So, I would agree with the sentiment that it’s a bit disappointing that we don’t have it yet,” said Busch.
The Richard Childress Racing driver is a proponent of hard racing. However, he is also concerned about the safety aspect while pushing the Next Gen car.
