Kyle Busch to RCR

1773774929558.png
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
I’m not sure about that. Harvick was contending for championships when he was driving at RCR and even sparred a few times with Prime JJ in the mid 2000’s when he was at his zenith in the 48. I thought Harvick had good shots to win The Chase in 2006,10, and 11. I have the utmost confidence Austin Dillon wouldn’t achieve even a quarter of that if he was driving the 29 in that time frame. I think Austin is a solid mid pack driver that IF things break extremely right when he has a fast race car, he can contend for wins on that day. And there’s no shame in that, he’s had a solid career with a few Crown Jewel wins. But to call him underrated, I don’t agree with that.
Click to expand...

Well yeah he's not prime Harvick. I think RCR had a stronger program during Harvick's time in the 29 even though they'd struggle in qualifying they were a monster in racetrim on raceday. That just seemed to be the perfect fit for Harvick during that time, and then the move to the 4 car just took everything up a notch performance wise for that championship season.

All I know is that Austin kicked the crap out of the field at Richmond and then backed it up the following year, that's a racer's track no accidents there, he's had some big moment showing's where it's been out of the blue impressive, and on tough tracks. So RCR is capable of bringing a fast racecar? if RCR is as slow as we're saying they are, why is AD not getting more credit sometimes? 12th at Vegas outfinishing KB by 16 spots. He's a consistent performer with an occasional high ceiling imo.

Reddick also had a good multi-win season in the 8 car.

Most of my inquiry revolves around is RCR actually slow? and if so why? I'm not sure that they are, I think Kyle Busch is sundowning in this car tbh.
 
KB doesn't seem as motivated at RCR as he was at JGR, plus he's admitted to not knowing how to communicate what changes the new car needs on race weekend. As a fan now that he's back in a Chevy, I'm holding out hope the lower downforce/more horsepower is his saving grace.
 
Turtle84 said:
Well yeah he's not prime Harvick. I think RCR had a stronger program during Harvick's time in the 29 even though they'd struggle in qualifying they were a monster in racetrim on raceday. That just seemed to be the perfect fit for Harvick during that time, and then the move to the 4 car just took everything up a notch performance wise for that championship season.

All I know is that Austin kicked the crap out of the field at Richmond and then backed it up the following year, that's a racer's track no accidents there, he's had some big moment showing's where it's been out of the blue impressive, and on tough tracks. So RCR is capable of bringing a fast racecar? if RCR is as slow as we're saying they are, why is AD not getting more credit sometimes? 12th at Vegas outfinishing KB by 16 spots. He's a consistent performer with an occasional high ceiling imo.

Reddick also had a good multi-win season in the 8 car.

Most of my inquiry revolves around is RCR actually slow? and if so why? I'm not sure that they are, I think Kyle Busch is sundowning in this car tbh.
Click to expand...
My point being even if RCR was operating at the level they were during prime Harvick, Austin Dillon isn’t THAT guy. So he’s fast at Richmond, that’s fantastic. He’s also fast on super speedways and at Texas. If you’re a serious organization and you’re touting Austin Dillon as your franchise driver to win the championship, then either you’re joking or delusional. The body of work over the last 13 years of his cup career supports this. His high ceiling? He’s mid 30’s now, there is no high ceiling. He is what he is, a solid cup vet that when things break right on a certain day he can win and has shown that in the past. It doesn’t matter if the RCR program is good, middle of the pack or elite, he’s not an elite Cup talent driver.
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
My point being even if RCR was operating at the level they were during prime Harvick, Austin Dillon isn’t THAT guy. So he’s fast at Richmond, that’s fantastic. He’s also fast on super speedways and at Texas. If you’re a serious organization and you’re touting Austin Dillon as your franchise driver to win the championship, then either you’re joking or delusional. The body of work over the last 13 years of his cup career supports this. His high ceiling? He’s mid 30’s now, there is no high ceiling. He is what he is, a solid cup vet that when things break right on a certain day he can win and has shown that in the past. It doesn’t matter if the RCR program is good, middle of the pack or elite, he’s not an elite Cup talent driver.
Click to expand...
Just my opinion but I don't think Austin Dillion outperforms Kyle Busch in equal cars.

I don't think that Austin Dillion is a joke or pathetic, he performs very well at times. I just wouldn't equate him to being as good as Busch.
In fairness Kyle isn't what he used to be either, but I still think he has more in the tank than Dillion.

A lot of speculation.... based on the personalities and history: my guess is that Kyle Busch has really pissed off someone at RCR, maybe even Pop Pop himself. I don't think they are intentionally sabatoging him but the enthusiasm to go the extra mile for him could have been lost somewhere along the way.

He started out a lot better (in 2023) than he is now at RCR. He won three times in his first 15 starts with them. But all of the wins occurred almost three years ago, the last one in early June 2023.
The consistency is also gone, he also has missed the playoffs of sixteen drivers for the last two seasons.

He may not like the current Gen-7 car, but he did win those three races with RCR in 2023 with the Gen-7.
He is almost 41 now; that could be a factor, but I wouldn't expect such a drastic fall-off.
 
I like reading people's well thought out reasoning and everyone has valid points.
Something I learned later in life is that everyone ages different and Nascar takes a toll at different times. DE at 49 was as good as any driver approaching 40 and better than most during his career.
One thing I learned that money equals comfort and comfort can lesson drive. I think Kyle has reached his limit and his son's career is more important to him. He will hang on as long as the money keeps coming but that is his only reason to continue.
 
Couple of things I learned from watching the test, (I posted it in the 2024 Next Gen Car thread), is that Cleetus can drive a race car and RCR's crew chief Danny Stockton is funny as hell.

1774102755765.png
 
Team Penske said:
I like reading people's well thought out reasoning and everyone has valid points.
Something I learned later in life is that everyone ages different and Nascar takes a toll at different times. DE at 49 was as good as any driver approaching 40 and better than most during his career.
One thing I learned that money equals comfort and comfort can lesson drive. I think Kyle has reached his limit and his son's career is more important to him. He will hang on as long as the money keeps coming but that is his only reason to continue.
Click to expand...

This is how I felt. I was making comments in 2019 stating that KB is on his way out of his prime.

For Kyle, imo, it's less about age and more about mileage.

More than half his life has been in a cup car.
 
wi_racefan said:
A

At this point his hopes of getting into the #7 don't look great, Amigo is running good. If anything the #71 might be looking for a driver change
Click to expand...
I don’t know if McDowell will be out, unless there’s a retirement. Kyle’s Cup future is definitely going to be something to keep tabs on as this season progresses.
 
Observations from my recliner could obviously be completely wrong, but I'll just put it out there... Kyle's race preparation/execution at this point is a three-step process:

1) Lick the stamp,
2) Apply the stamp to the envelope, and
3) Mail it in.

Kyle has been doing this job full-time for almost 24 years, 38 cup races per year, plus more BGN/Nationwide/Xfinity races and truck races than anyone else. It's a recipe for burnout for most any human being. He's not that advanced in age (41), but he's very advanced in Nascar starts... 756 cup starts plus 548 in Xfinity and trucks... over 1,300 starts.

Also, Kyle was always noted for his excellent role in perfecting the setup during practice, and asking for specific adjustments during the race. But since 2020 there is very little practice, and since 2022 the NextGen car is very different from the stock cars where Kyle honed his feedback and setup skills. It just doesn't come as easy as it used to. I believe this is also a factor in KDB's diminished performance.

In 150 starts since 2022 in the NextGen car, Kyle has just 4 wins, and two of them were complete fluke-y gifts. I believe the driver should be held accountable for a significant share of that mediocre performance. Some of KDB's fans disagree and say, it's all on Gibbs and Childress. Debates and disagreements about sports... it's what we do.
 
LewTheShoe said:
Observations from my recliner could obviously be completely wrong, but I'll just put it out there... Kyle's race preparation/execution at this point is a three-step process:

1) Lick the stamp,
2) Apply the stamp to the envelope, and
3) Mail it in.

Kyle has been doing this job full-time for almost 24 years, 38 cup races per year, plus more BGN/Nationwide/Xfinity races and truck races than anyone else. It's a recipe for burnout for most any human being. He's not that advanced in age (41), but he's very advanced in Nascar starts... 756 cup starts plus 548 in Xfinity and trucks... over 1,300 starts.

Also, Kyle was always noted for his excellent role in perfecting the setup during practice, and asking for specific adjustments during the race. But since 2020 there is very little practice, and since 2022 the NextGen car is very different from the stock cars where Kyle honed his feedback and setup skills. It just doesn't come as easy as it used to. I believe this is also a factor in KDB's diminished performance.

In 150 starts since 2022 in the NextGen car, Kyle has just 4 wins, and two of them were complete fluke-y gifts. I believe the driver should be held accountable for a significant share of that mediocre performance. Some of KDB's fans disagree and say, it's all on Gibbs and Childress. Debates and disagreements about sports... it's what we do.
Click to expand...
Kyle can't drive this car. My question is what has he done about it? Denny ****** Hamlin stayed in a sim until he had changed what he is doing to be dominant at Phoenix last fall. How much time does Kyle spend in the sim vs. the time he spends on his wife's podcast and/or at a track with his kid? Couple this with one of the crappiest teams in the garage, and I don't think you have the recipe for success. The aniti-JGR narrative is cute here, but the move to cut him was a good one. No matter how you look at it....you can have 0 wins at a fraction of the price that the lack of wins would have cost JGR had they kept him.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom