Kyle Busch Confesses NASCAR Fans Respects Him More for RCR Grind Over Thriving at JGR

Two times NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has shared his thoughts on how not winning consistently made him a fan favorite.

Kyle Busch Confesses NASCAR Fans Respects Him More for RCR Grind Over Thriving at JGR

Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

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In 2023, Kyle Busch made the biggest decision of his career, switching from Joe Gibbs Racing to Richard Childress Racing, ending his 15-year stint with the TRD giants. He won 56 races, and two championships with the Toyota team. But has now found himself in a winless run for over two years driving the iconic No:8 Chevy.

The only positive thing that has come out of his move to RCR has been the change in fans perception towards him. In his TRD days, Kyle Busch was seen as the villain of the sport. But now the moniker has been taken over by his ex-teammate Denny Hamlin, who is clearly taking advantage of the hate better than the Busch ever did.

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Kyle Busch shared his thoughts on this change is fan behavior. He admitted that at JGR he was expected to win every race, and that made his lash out during loses. The fans took these rants and mistakes from the veteran as the motivation for criticizing him as well as to hate him.

At Gibbs, you’re expected to win — like, if you’re not winning, then what are you doing? So, when you lose out on close races or whatever, you get very frustrated, very mad, very angry. And those were always my bad moments that people hated me for.

Kyle Busch said via The Athletic.

But now the situation has flipped upside down, despite being a legacy side, RCR isn’t on the same level as JGR and Busch is not expected to produce victories every weekend. So, the fans respect his grind more, understanding how hard he has to work to secure even a top-10 finish. The fans never got the opportunity to appreciate this side of Busch, as he had better cars at JGR.

Now I’m in a different spot, and let’s call a spade a spade — we’re less competitive and not up front as much. So, you’re just going with the flow and trying to work on things and make things better. And I guess for some reason, people respect that more.

Kyle Busch added.

Kyle Busch names the most underrated drivers on the current grid

In the same podcast, Kyle Busch was asked to name the most underrated driver in the grid. He named two of his Chevy teammates in RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Kaulig Racing veteran AJ Allmendinger, who is his alliance teammate as well.

Chris Buescher
Chris Buescher (Via IMAGO)

There’s two. I would probably say Chris Buescher being one of them. And then I’d also go with AJ Allmendinger. I think AJ is really, really good. Being (alliance) teammates with the Kaulig guys and stuff like that, and knowing where he’s at and what he’s doing and how he’s driving with similar stuff as us — I think he’s getting a lot out of his cars.

Kyle Busch said.

Chris Buescher has been one of the best racers in the midfield, with his career spanning between FRM, JTGD Racing and now at RFK. He has made over 350+ starts and secured six wins, with at least one win each in the last three seasons.

AJ Allmendinger is a road course specialist, who can be considered as a more experienced version of Buscher. From over 468+ starts in the Cup level, the ex-IndyCar driver has won three races. If he had gotten opportunities with the top teams, his resume would have been much different.

The assertion from Kyle Busch seems rational, considering the impressive performance of the veterans over the years in subpar cars. Both of them like, Busch hasn’t won a single race this season and it would be interesting to see how everything is going to playout for the racers with three more racers before the playoffs.

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