NASCAR breaks silence on Kyle Busch’s controversial criticism of the officials after Daytona 500

NASCAR managing director of communications has responded to the controversy after Kyle Busch’s DVP rules criticism from the Daytona 500.

NASCAR breaks silence on Kyle Busch’s controversial criticism of the officials after Daytona 500

Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

Coming into the 2025 NASCAR Cup season, Kyle Busch had one goal, redemption. He had one of the most disappointing seasons of his career in 2024, that saw him end the year winless and not making it into the playoffs. The RCR veteran was determined to start strong at the Daytona 500, only to get caught up in a Joey Logano wreck with 20 laps left in the race

Kyle Busch failed to make the minimum speed under DVP and DNFed when he came back to the pits to fix the car, as the RCR crew mis-interpreted the new rules. The ex-champion was furious with the officials as he thought NASCAR screwed him over. NASCAR’s managing director of communications Mike Forde has responded to the comments from the veteran in the Hauler Talk podcast.

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It’s a new rule and it’s probably going to take some getting used to, but this is a rule that was reiterated a few times during speed week stuff. There was a lot of time spent on this particular piece of the rule. That message didn’t get to Kyle.

Mike Forde said on the Hauler Talk podcast.

He highlighted that Kyle Busch slammed NASCAR in the media center and later on X, because he didn’t understand the rules enough. Forde also revealed that the No:8 team crew chief Randall Burnett admitted to NASCAR’s Brad Moran that they got rule wrong.

There were drivers who came in and asked that question. So, Kyle came out of the media center and ripped NASCAR without knowing the rule. Didn’t feel like he got enough, then ripped us on X. Crew chief did come to our managing director of the NASCAR Cup Series, Brad Moran, and say, ‘My bad, we did get that wrong.’ Randall Burnett and Brad had that conversation, that did happen, so.

Mike Forde added.

Denny Hamlin disagrees Kyle Busch on the whole drama  

Kyle Busch’s former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin talked about the drama via his podcast Actions Detrimental. He put the blame on Busch for the outrage and asserted that the veteran was educated enough about the rule.

Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch
Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

I have to disagree with Kyle here. I called Elton Sawyer because any time you have these controversial things, I want to be educated. Kyle was incorrect in saying you get three attempts to make speed. That is not the case.

Kyle Busch said.

The comments from Denny Hamlin and Mike Forde seems to be on point. Kyle Busch’s outrage was mostly due to his poor form continuing at Superspeedways, and not having the best understanding about the rules played a part in it. It would be interesting to see how the RCR veteran is going to respond to backlash after the rule clarification.