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Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch was left frustrated in last week’s NASCAR Cup Series race at the Talladega Superspeedway after he spun across the finish line, courtesy of the final lap multi-car wreck.
In the post-race interview and in a statement on his X account, Busch expressed his disappointment with the performance of the Next Gen car:
“Ride in line=finish where u r TRY to race for win=finish last I hate these cars!!!”
On his anger-lacked take on the Next Gen car, Kyle Busch received support from his former Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.
Speaking on this on the latest episode of the “Actions Detrimental” podcast, Hamlin seemed to agree with Busch’s statement on Next Gen cars when it comes to superspeedway racing.
“He’s so right though. And that’s the tough part about it: when you look at the final restart, it looks like the last lap. The two cars that controlled the outside line and the inside line were the same cars the entire last thirty laps.
"Because you cannot afford to get out of line. If you get out of line, it’s over. The reason that is is because these cars have a ton of drag. That’s basically how far the car can go down the straightaway,” Hamlin said.
On drag, horsepower and the evolving superspeedway package, Hamlin said:
“What happens is, when you get in a line, the drag of your car reduces by a huge amount. So, the air is divided up over not one car, but ten cars in a line. But the drag is divided up between all of them.
"And it really varies based on how close you are to the front and back of the car in front of you and behind you. And you can keep going faster and faster the closer you get to those cars.”
Watch the full coversation here:
Kyle Busch went on to finish 27th at Talladega, continuing the streak of disappointing performances in 2024.
How Kyle Busch has performed in the 2024 NASCAR season so far
NASCAR veteran has had a topsy-turvy 2024 season. He kicked off the season with P12 and P3 finishes at the Daytona International Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway, and in the next three races, he went through a subpar outing, finishing outside the top-20.
The former Cup champion holds one top-5 and three top-10 finishes with an average finish of 16.9 in 10 starts this season. He's 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series points table with 233 points. He has been winless for 31 races since last year’s Gateway.
Kyle Busch will look to bounce back with a win in the upcoming Cup race at Dover Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 28.
