Kyle Busch ready to deliver ‘payback’ in midst of winless 2024
INDIANAPOLIS (BVM) – The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season has been one to forget for veteran driver Kyle Busch who remains winless on the year. Busch’s winless drought actually dates back to June 2023 when he last reached victory lane at a midseason race at World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois.
It’s been a stretch that is very unusual for the 39-year-old who has 63 career victories in the Cup Series, the most among active drivers.
“Our cars have not been that great right now,” Busch said during an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Friday. “Last year we were good. I joined RCR, we won three of the first 12, 15 races or something like that. It was pretty good. We haven’t won since so it’s been a bit of a dry spell. We’re working on it.”
After spending 15 years in the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch’s three early-season wins as he joined Richard Childress Racing last year appeared to signal a future successful partnership.
KYLE BUSCH GETS REDEMPTION AT GATEWAY!
The No. 8 converts pole to victory for his 3rd win of the season in the hometown of his crew chief Randall Burnett.#NASCAR #EnjoyIllinois300 pic.twitter.com/31flpGJmMe
— NASCAR on TSN (@NASCARonTSN) June 5, 2023
However, Busch has seemed disappointed in both himself and his race team in 2024, and further expressed that frustration on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
“There’s definitely things that I’ve done in races that have taken us out,” Busch said. “But ultimately it comes down to how fast your car is. Fast cars cure all.”
Busch also mentioned that teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have seemed to figure out how to have success in the next-gen cars. Meanwhile, his RCR team and others like Front Row Motorsports, RFK Racing and Trackhouse Racing seem to be lagging behind.
“The better teams are starting to separate themselves from the rest of the teams,” Busch said. “They’ve figured something out, they know where the tricks are in this thing to make it faster than anybody else. We’re all winning like maybe one race a year, maybe getting lucky winning that one race of the year.”
While Busch seems a bit disappointed with his own team, perhaps his greatest frustration has come this year from other drivers, as he has been involved in wrecks in five of his last seven races.
“I don’t have faith in any of them,” Busch said about the other Cup Series drivers in the field. “I’ve been wrecked five out of the last seven races by somebody.”
Busch has had a few incidents in particular that have stood out this season, one of which came at the All-Star race as he and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got into it early on in the event. After the race, Busch and Stenhouse Jr. confronted each other, and before long, punches were thrown.
Another angle of the confrontation after the race. pic.twitter.com/JCgSZhEzwa
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) May 20, 2024
“I saw him there and I’m like, ‘OK, he’s going to be pissed, he’s going to want to fight,’” Busch said. “So he starts talking and he’s cool, calm, collected, everything is fine. I started to let my guard down. I was giving my reasonings of everything and he wasn’t happy with my reasonings.”
Busch mentioned on “The Pat McAfee Show” that just a couple of months earlier, he had sold Stenhouse Jr. a trailer, and they were also together at a Cirque du Soleil show. However, things have not been too friendly between Busch and the driver he has nicknamed “Wrecky Spinhouse” since.
“He has been known to crash a lot of stuff,” Busch said. “He essentially got let go from one of his teams because he wrecked too much.”
Busch has also taken issue with Spire Motorsports driver Corey LaJoie who got into a wreck with the driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet just last week at Pocono.
Jeff Burton didn't sugarcoat what he thought about @CoreyLaJoie's move against @kylebusch at @PoconoRaceway. pic.twitter.com/8vRraZJcsD
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) July 15, 2024
“That’s stupid,” Busch said about LaJoie’s move at Pocono. “What are we doing? We’re going 190 mph into that corner and we’re going to wreck each other?
“He texted me and then he called me and I didn’t even reach back out because he changed his story four times, so I’m like you’re just a liar, whatever, you wrecked me. Payback is coming.”
Despite the disappointing year, Busch currently sits 18th in the points standings during his 20th Cup Series season, just 27 points out of the 16th and final playoff spot which is currently held by Chase Briscoe. The Cup Series will head to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 this weekend, and will also make stops at Richmond, Michigan and Daytona before the regular season concludes at the end of August.
Busch will look to end his winless drought at one of those races and may still be able to reach the playoffs without taking the checkered flag. Even despite all the disappointment that 2024 has brought, the 39-year-old driver isn’t going anywhere, and hopes to eventually race in NASCAR alongside his son, Brexton.
“I’ll go as long as the good Lord lets me,” Busch said. “I’ve got another five, six years in me. That’s about the time my boy will be old enough, he’ll get here.”