[Kyle] Busch became a point of conversation this week after last weekend’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the 40-year-old found himself caught up in a two-accident day with 23XI Racing’s Riley Herbst. He paid the struggling sophomore back for an early spin in the closing laps, sending the race to overtime. It was the lowlight of a challenging day that saw Busch come home 25th, dropping him to 24th in the championship standings after eight races.
His former Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, gave a blunt assessment of Busch’s struggles in the Next Gen era on his Actions Detrimental podcast early in the week. He ackno wledged that Busch is a “Hall of Fame, Mount Rushmore” driver, but acknowledged that he isn’t outperforming teammate Austin Dillon as expected and “doesn’t know how to consistently get speed out of the Nex Gen car.”
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Asked about Hamlin’s comments in a pre-qualifying media bullpen at Kansas Speedway, Busch had a simple request for Hamlin.
“If Denny wants to switch cars, I’ll switch cars with him,” Busch told The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck. “Any day of the week, any time. I would love for him to show me he can carry it better than I can.”
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“He can bash me all he wants,” Busch added. “I can certainly make his life hell.”
— Racer —