2019 was the year when Kyle Busch last won a short-track race in the NASCAR Cup Series. But since the Next Gen car took over, his run on the traditional half-mile tracks has been dismal. So much so that he hasn’t even finished inside the top 10 in his last ten starts at short tracks. While there has been a transition for Rowdy from the Chevy to Toyota camp, his troubles with Next Gen cars are well documented. But his decline on the short track in particular stood out.
It’s not that NASCAR hasn’t made any efforts to improve the short-track package. Last year, they did make some adjustments, and yet Rowdy was unimpressed. “I didn’t think we could make it [the package] worse, but by golly, we did.” He said this last year and was sold that NASCAR won’t take any efforts to improve the state of short track racing. Fast forward to 2025, the sanctioning body finally listened to his complaints and opened the floor for the team to bring in ideas for the solution. However, the majority of team owners, including Denny Hamlin, weren’t sold on it. And this, in turn, led to a fiery response from Rowdy Busch.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin are not on the same train of thought
This whole ruckus started with the reports of NASCAR proposing a ‘run what you brung’ idea at the All-Star race at the North Wilkesboro Speedway. Essentially, what NASCAR wanted to do was allow the team to make changes that seemed fit for the Next Gen car. No policing, no tech inspection, just pure racing based on the work the teams did in the garage. Yet, Denny Hamlin, along with other team owners, didn’t sign up for this deal, citing more financial burden. Now, Busch knows a thing or two about owning a race team from his KBM days, and he disagreed with the Cup Series team for ditching the All-Star idea.
“I was for it, like, I thought this could be something to see. You know this car at short-track, it is short-track challenged. So we need to find some ideas, somebody bring something to the plate, that could actually try to help this thing. They were wide open to anything. I heard they were going to allow opening the motors… take the floors off if you want, add wickers if you want. I don’t know where you finally draw the line on that. I kinda of get team’s perspective on it, but somebody needs somehow to figure out how to make this thing race at short-track better.” Kyle Busch said on the Door Bumper Clear podcast.
Look at the state of racing in Martinsville and Bristol; it has developed into a track position race. Just recently, Kyle Larson dominated the Food City 500 by leading 411 laps, which goes on to show the lack of competitive racing on short tracks. Although these smaller circuits have great cultural significance, these tracks are going through testing times. We saw Richmond Raceway lose out on one of its dates. And this could happen with tracks like Martinsville and Bristol.
NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Toyota Owners 400 Apr 2, 2023 Richmond, Virginia, USA Kyle Busch 8 reacts with fans before the race during the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Richmond Richmond Raceway Virginia USA, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xJohnxDavidxMercerx 20230402_tdc_sx1_0038
It’s not that Hamlin wasn’t sold on the idea of new race cars, factory tweaked at the All-Star race, but the numbers just didn’t make sense for him and the team owners.
Denny Hamlin explains the math behind team’s decision
It’s important to note that 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports have sued NASCAR on antitrust grounds. Both teams expressed concern about the current economic model, which they feel is setting the teams up for failure. However, there’s reasoning behind teams not being sold on the ‘run what you bring’ idea, as it could cost them millions without any potential returns.
“This is what we’re fighting for. If you continue to lose money year after year, why would you raise your hand and say, ‘Hey, I would take another million loss, give me a million, I’ll take a million loss. You can’t do that, it’s not sustainable. So its not possible under the parameter that were set in front of us. There’s only three teams that have all the resources to go manufacture and modify parts.” Hamlin explained on his podcast.
Going by reports, the cost of operating a NASCAR Cup Series team can go as high as $30 to $50 million. Heck, even Hendrick Motorsports hasn’t been profitable in the last 10 years, and this should tell you the state of NASCAR racing at the moment. With every team trying to save every penny, is it a good idea to spend more on a Next Gen project, which could amount to nothing after the All-Star event? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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