‘Dity and greedy’ racing is the new norm among young drivers in NASCAR, claims Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch has been an active voice on the lack of respect on the track among drivers in NASCAR since the start of the season.
Follow Us
Kyle Busch (Credits: @rowdyenergy/ Twitter)
Two times NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has come forth, admitting that the young stock car racing driver has been following more of a dirty racing form. He claims that the respect in the garage is slowly becoming a thing of the past. The KBM owner, though, prefers racing clean as it was done in the past and understands that, unfortunately, it doesn’t make drivers successful these days.
The last Sunday’s Cup race has once again stirred the conversation around respect and dirty racing in NASCAR. Busch’s former teammate Denny Hamlin walled Hendrick Motorsport’s Kyle Larson for the win at Pocono. It has produced a mixed set reaction from the racing community. The RCR driver was giving his opinion on the issue, and while doing so, he gave his opinion on the new generation of racers as well.
Busch pointed out that racing has evolved over the years, and drivers now have to choose between racing clean and losing the race or being aggressive to take a positive result home. The young racers who come up the rank from ARCA, Truck, and Xfinity series’ has been learning a vicious cycle of dirty racing, and it is just coming to the Cup series.
“There’s all this — it’s racing. It’s just a different form of racing. I don’t know whether you call it dirty or whether you call it greedy. I think it’s both of those things, but you know, I’ve been seeing it a lot out of the younger generation,” Kyle Busch told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
“The kids and stuff like that coming up through the ranks. How they do it in ARCA, how they do it in the Truck Series, how they’re doing in an Xfinity, and now it’s come up to the Cup Series. And so it’s just this vicious cycle of how to race,” Busch added.
In case you missed it: Shane van Gisbergen reportedly received multiple full-time NASCAR Cup offers after the historic Chicago win
Kyle Busch believes aggressive racing is a byproduct of Next-Gen cars
The winningest NASCAR driver ever pointed out that another major reason the aggressive racing style has become a mainstay is the Next-Gen cars. Since introducing the seventh generation of stock cars to the sport in 2022, the field has become close, with midfield teams becoming contenders for wins every other week.
The opportunity to make a pass with just pure pace and clean racing is minimal, and drivers are forced to move and disturb the leader’s run to overtake him. Busch, by giving the Hamlin-Larson situation from Pocono as an example, pointed out that the third-positioned driver will easily steal the lead if the leader becomes more concentrated on racing clean.
“So, it’s just a different dynamic, you know, with the competition being closer and the cars being closer, you have to mess up the guy that you’re racing, that you’re around. You have to push them out of the groove. You have to pinch him tight to make him get tight. And then, you know, you have to pull a slide job on him to get in front of him and take his air,” Busch said.
Discover more:
Stay Updated!
Justin P Joy
(4859 Articles Published)