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Kyle Busch on Next Gen Car: “It’s a Step in the Wrong Direction”

(Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch is preparing for a Playoff run, and he is in search of his third NASCAR Cup Series championship, but looming in 2022 is the adaptation of the Next Gen race car in the NASCAR Cup Series. In a new episode of The Final Lap Weekly podcast, Busch pulled no punches on the new car, and even called the Next Gen, “a step in the wrong direction,” for the sport.

“Yeah, I’ve kind of seen it, but I haven’t driven it,” Busch explained. “From my vantage point, when you take out all of the ability for race teams to be creative and ingenuity, the engineering aspect, everything is gone. It’s just a race of engine development, I guess, that’s all the manufacturers have any say over the new car, is what engine is in it and what their engines do and that sort of stuff. I’m not necessarily a fan of it, I think it’s a step in the wrong direction, but it’s what we’ve got.”

Here is the full episode of The Final Lap Weekly with the Kyle Busch interview:

This could be the first real criticism we have seen from a NASCAR Cup Series driver about the future of the Next Gen car.

While some drivers such as Martin Truex Jr. and Kurt Busch have offered tips and ideas on how the car should be after their stints behind the wheel, none of them have called the Next Gen car a bad thing to this point.

Busch is typically a very vocal driver, and has voiced his displeasure over the low horsepower, high downforce package that has been used at intermediate tracks over the last couple of seasons. While Busch did hit on the fact that he hasn’t driven the car yet, driving it could change his opinion on the Next Gen. But for now, it looks like Busch also isn’t much of a fan of the Next Gen car that is coming, either.

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15 Responses

  1. I’m going to agree with him. Nascar is already taking too much out of the teams hands. They need to be allowed to be creative. Just think of Richard Petty in a car that was far superior in his day. They don’t need to go that far but let the crew and drivers have a hand in how good the car can be. This is almost going to be like the iroc series. Just my humble opinion.

  2. Those are kinda my thoughts too. There will be far fewer aspects of the car that race teams can manipulate for an advantage. Pit crew performance will be less of a factor with one lug per wheel. The rest of the car is the same from team to team apart from the engine. Basically it will be driver skill vs. driver skill, which isn’t a terrible thing, but it used to be team performance vs. team performance, that was required to win races and championships.

  3. seems to me we have identical cars same parts same tires same springs why don’t they just put a slot in the track with a few cross overs and a computer controlling every thing… At lest when i raced late models in the 80’s it was up to team {team} ingenuity and skills and driver abilities..
    guess im gonna be a fan of e-racing. sorry nascar ya lost me…….

  4. I completely agree. Having been in the pits – watching those guys work magic on 5 lugs is *PART* of what makes Nascar interesting. You’ve gotta have skill to do that. I’ve watched them practice with eyes closed. Truly impressive. going single lug just makes it F1 except without open wheel, less nimble and way slower cars. Oh, and less science and driver controls. Sorta like big bumper cars – dullsville. I predict Spring/dirt viewing will be higher.

  5. NASCAR should have taken the S out of their name 30 years ago. But I personally stopped following NASCAR with the advent of the Restrictor Plate.

  6. Bring back the real cars! Cars that WE were able to drive on Monday after a good race on Sunday. My first muscle car that I bought back in, dear I date myself, 1983, was a 1970 Dodge Super Bee, 383 Magnum, gun shift on the floor. 4.11 Posi traction rear end. But, it was a car that actually raced from the factory…

    1. No, in 1970 the Dodge teams used the Dodge Charger Daytona with 426 c. i. hemi engines, elongated noses and wings. NOT a 383 Super Bee (which was indeed a cool car, just not used in NASCAR.

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