Dale Earnhardt Jr. reviews Kyle Busch’s 2023 season, labels his RCR debut as ‘a tale of two halves’
Kyle Busch got eliminated in the playoff R-16 this year just like in the 2022 season.
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)
The 2023 season marked the return of two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch‘s return to the Chevy garage for the first time since leaving HMS to join JGR. He replaced Tyler Reddick in the No:8 Richard Childress Racing car while the two-time Xfinity Series champion moved to 23XI Racing, as Kurt Busch’s replacement.
He had a flying start to the season that saw him contending for wins from the unofficial season opener, the Clash at the Colosseum. Busch won the second race of the year at Fontana and went on to win races at Talladega and Gateway. But the smooth ride ended as the regular season was coming to an end.
Busch and his teammate Austin Dillon were slow or fast on track depending on the day with no consistency and momentum to back them. Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. while reviewing Busch’s 2023 season, highlighted this tale of two halves. A promising start and a disappointing end. Junior said that even the champion driver was bewildered by how the second half of the year came crashing down for RCR.
Kyle Busch, three wins, first year at RCR, I would say it was a tale of two-halves man. The first half of the year very good, very promising, expecting improvements and expecting that to continue to evolve…But the second half of the year man, they just sort of lost something. In those handful of races, for whatever reason, they really really struggled to make speed and it seemed that you know at times Kyle was bewildered on what they needed to do.Junior said via Dale Jr. Download.
Kyle Busch is expecting better results going into the 2024 season
Despite the early playoff exit, Kyle Busch isn’t dejected. He believes the goals for the 2023 season that were set have been accomplished and he also cherishes the fact that he was able to prove some doubters wrong by winning with RCR. With the experience gained from data collected this season, he is expecting to have a strong 2024 season with RCR.
Did we meet expectations? Yes. I would say there were a lot of doubters that I wasn’t going to win at RCR and all that stuff. So for us to go out and win, I feel like that was really good. You know, we’re building on a notebook and building on our program this year here to be able to get ready to go back to some of these places for a second time next year. So I’d like to think next year can be even better.
The 2023 season has been a nightmare for Austin Dillon throughout and it’s a big headache for RCR to solve. The No:3 Chevy driver was struggling even when Busch was thriving. He had 10 DNFs this year, the most by any driver on the grid. So RCR not only has to fix the cars but also needs to work on their driver as well in the post-season so that they have the best car for 2024.
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Justin P Joy
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