Kyle Busch breaks down how ‘physically and mentally demanding’ the Martinsville Cup race is
Kyle Busch confirms that the Next-Gen makes Martinsville a tough race.
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Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)
Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch has admitted that Martinsville Speedway is among the most demanding circuits on the NASCAR. Busch is one of the best active drivers at Martinsville, and being the winningest driver in the garage, he knows a thing or two about how tough it is to win races at the ‘Half Mile Of Mayhem.’
Buch, when asked about how demanding the track is, admitted that the requirement to be on the brakes and steering all the time makes it one of the hardest races in the schedule. It’s a track where it’s about going as fast as one car while going slow. Working on the throttle and using it is productivity would be a big factor in the race.
The racing there is pretty demanding. I mean, you’re on the brakes all the time and steering all the time. You’re trying to feel that grip and not slip. You want to carry your speed as fast as you can while off the gas. The biggest thing that I learned that made me better at Martinsville is how fast can you go slow
Kyle Busch said, as reported by Speedway Media.
The two-time Cup Series champion has won two races at the track from 36 starts. He has finished the race second four times and has finished inside the top-5 in 17 of those races. One concerning stat, though, is he has finished outside the top 20 nine times. He finished just P21 in the regular season races at the track and will be hoping for redemption on Sunday.
Kyle Busch explains how Next-Gen cars made Martinsville much harsher
The former JGR earlier explained how Martinsville is a challenging short track and how the Next-Gen car made it tougher. He pointed out that with minor adjustments made to the 6th Gen cars, drivers could extract significant pace, but the same doesn’t apply to 7th Gen cars. This makes passing harder and racing close.
Martinsville is a challenging short track. I think with the Next Gen race car it’s become a bigger challenge just with the fact that everybody being a lot closer. Little setup differences with the old car meant an awful lot in speed, and it seems like little setup differences with this car doesn’t really mean a whole lot so everybody runs the same speed no matter what, so it just makes it tough to pass.
Busch acknowledged that track position would be important on Sunday due to the absence of groves with enough grip to pass rivals. The 7th Gen car has madding passing harder, and it deprives drivers of the opportunity to follow their opponents closer to use their slight mistakes and make the pass.
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Justin P Joy
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