Richard Petty recently shared his thoughts on Kyle Busch's ongoing slump in the current generation of NASCAR. The seven-time champion has been closely watching how today’s drivers are handling the Next Gen car, and he specifically pointed out why one of the sport's biggest names is struggling.

Petty sees a lot of his own past challenges in Busch’s current slump. Throughout NASCAR history, massive technical shifts have often sidelined legends who spent their whole lives perfecting a specific style. For Petty, the transition from older, heavier steel-bodied cars to more modern engineering was a hurdle, just as the move to the high-downforce, independent-rear suspension Next Gen car is proving to be for Busch.

During an interview with Kevin Harvick and Will Buxton on FOX's "Speed" podcast, Richard Petty said:

"I've been watching these new cars. Some of the guys have really adapted to them, and some of the people haven't. And I’m going to take Kyle Busch for an instance," Petty began.

He noted that the very thing that made Busch a two-time champion is now working against him. "Kyle could really manhandle a car. You can’t manhandle these cars, so he looks like he's lost.”

The King expressed genuine sympathy for the Richard Childress Racing driver, adding, "And I feel for him because he's got the ability to flat drive a race car, but these are not the kind of race cars that he's used to. It's a different environment."

It’s a rare look at how even the best in the business can be humbled when the machine no longer responds to the old-school muscle of its driver. To draw an F1 parallel, it would be like Lewis Hamilton struggling with the ground-effect cars from 2022 to 2025.

Adapting To The Next Gen Challenge

Kyle Busch has conquered every car NASCAR threw at him since 2005, from the old Gen 4 models to the Car of Tomorrow and the championship-winning Gen 6. However, the Next Gen era has been a different story.

While the two-time Cup champion found early success in 2023, he has struggled to stay consistent as the rest of the garage has found their understanding with the machine.

Denny Hamlin, on his "Actions Detrimental" podcast, noted that while Busch is a "Hall of Fame, Mount Rushmore" talent, it seems as if he "doesn’t know how to consistently get speed out of the Next Gen car."

Busch didn't take the critique lightly and was offended by the speculation. "If Denny wants to switch cars, I’ll switch cars with him," Busch told the media in Kansas. "He can bash me all he wants. I can certainly make his life hell."

At Talladega on Sunday, Busch recorded his first Top 10 this season, while Hamlin finished in 14th. Carson Hocevar won his first NASCAR Cup Series race, fending off Chris Buescher and Alex Bowman.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sanskriti Pastor

Edited by

Yask Kotak