DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 12: Kyle Busch 8 Richard Childress Racing Zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet stands by his car prior to the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 Duels 1 on February 12, 2026 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL.Photo by Michael Bush/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 12 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 Duels 1 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260212013
DAYTONA BEACH, FL - FEBRUARY 12: Kyle Busch 8 Richard Childress Racing Zone Jalapeno Lime Chevrolet stands by his car prior to the NASCAR, Motorsport, USA Cup Series Daytona 500 Duels 1 on February 12, 2026 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL.Photo by Michael Bush/Icon Sportswire AUTO: FEB 12 NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 Duels 1 EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon260212013
Apr 22, 2026, 11:05 PM CUT
Kyle Busch Recalls NASCAR Warning After His 2023 Gateway Win
“Got our hands smacked,” that is what Kyle Busch remembers from his last race win at Gateway in 2023. Busch had just moved to Richard Childress Racing’s #8 Chevrolet after 15 years at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Busch recalled that after losing M&M as a sponsor, Joe Gibbs told him he would have to leave. While weighing his options, he looked at Tyler Reddick’s three-win 2022 season and felt RCR had an early edge with the Next Gen car.
Speaking on a talk show, Busch recalled NASCAR’s warning to RCR, saying, “In 2023 when I won those three races, after the third race that we won at Gateway we got our hands smacked for some of the stuff that we were doing to the race car that NASCAR didn’t like and said don’t bring that back.”
Busch said that while what RCR did wasn’t against the rules, the team had found a gray area to exploit and gained an advantage, which NASCAR didn’t like.
Busch explained that teams constantly push regulatory boundaries on car weight and downforce to find a competitive edge.
He added that it comes from trying to “figure out ways of making more downforce than everybody else, getting your car lower to the ground, lower CG, making it go around the corners faster.”
Busch Sees NASCAR Go Down the F1 Path
In over 100 starts since the race he won at Gateway, Busch hasn’t won a race. He finished 14th in 2023 and dropped to 20th in 2024 marking two of his worst seasons in over a decade.
After nine races in 2026, Busch sits 27th with 133 points and a best finish of 12th at COTA, still without a top-10 finish this season.
On his Action Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin suggested Busch should be outperforming his RCR teammate Austin Dillon given his status in the sport.
Busch said, “NASCAR has gotten a little F1-ish. It’s all in the horses you ride. I hate that for NASCAR. Like years ago I felt I could make a bigger difference. Like we might have been an eight place car I could win the race with that. Now if you’re a twelfth place car, you are finishing 20th to 22nd.”
He added that teams like Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Team Penske have gained more from the Next Gen car, while RCR has fallen behind.
Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!
Written by
Debrup Chaudhuri
Edited by
Pulkit Prabhav