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Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch ahead of a NASCAR Cup Series race, as Hamlin weighed in on Busch\u2019s recent struggles.<\/p>\n
Denny Hamlin<\/a> used his Actions Detrimental podcast<\/a> to explain the struggles facing Kyle Busch at Richard Childress Racing early in the NASCAR Cup Series season. Kyle Busch<\/a> started the year with speed, winning the pole for the Daytona 500 and showing strong pace.<\/p>\n But the results did not follow. Kyle Busch finished 15th at Daytona and then crashed at Atlanta, ending the race in 34th. Those finishes dropped him in the standings and extended his winless streak. Denny Hamlin focused on what has changed since Kyle Busch joined RCR and why the team has not matched its earlier performance with the Next Gen car in a more competitive field.<\/p>\n NASCAR Cup Series Struggles Linked to Lack of Speed<\/p>\n Denny Hamlin said the main issue is not effort but the car\u2019s performance. Denny Hamlin explained that Kyle Busch has not found steady speed in the current package.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, RCR is not good right now. It\u2019s time to be honest about what\u2019s going on. I think he doesn\u2019t know how to get the speed out of the Next Gen car on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that Kyle Busch has shown speed at times, but it has not carried over into full race weekends.<\/p>\n \u201cThere have been flashes of it. Yes, he won three races in his first season at RCR, but at that time, everyone was guessing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Denny Hamlin compared the early Next Gen period to the current field and said the gap between teams has closed across the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at the statistics from 2022 and compare them to 2026 at the same tracks, the field has tightened up a lot. What used to be spread out is now very close. Everyone is so close now.\u201d<\/p>\n Results Show Early-Season Struggles<\/p>\n Kyle Busch opened the season at Daytona with a strong qualifying run. He earned the pole and led the field to green. However, Kyle Busch did not finish near the front, finishing 15th.<\/p>\n The following week at Atlanta Motor Speedway brought more trouble. Kyle Busch was involved in a crash and finished 34th. Those results placed him further back in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after the opening races.<\/p>\n The early results show a gap between speed in short moments and results over a full race. Kyle Busch has not been able to stay at the front for the entire race distance.<\/p>\n Competitive Pressure Continues to Build<\/p>\n Denny Hamlin said the current level of competition makes it harder for any team to recover without consistent speed. The field now runs closer together, leaving little room for mistakes or missed setups.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a tough time right now, and I hate seeing it. Kyle is a competitor who hates losing, and I know it\u2019s eating at him how bad he\u2019s running every week.\u201d<\/p>\n Kyle Busch joined Richard Childress Racing in 2023 and won three races in his first season with the team. Since then, results have declined as other teams improved their performance with the same car model in the NASCAR Cup Series.<\/p>\n Denny Hamlin made it clear in his analysis that Kyle Busch still has the drive to compete, but the team has not matched the pace needed to run at the front each week.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDogli Wilberforce<\/a> is a writer covering NASCAR, Formula 1, and the IndyCar Series for Heavy Sports. He has also written for Sportsnaut, FanSided, Total Apex Sports, and Last Word on Sports. Wilberforce focuses on the NASCAR Cup Series, breaking down news, driver stories, and key moments with a clear, fast, and engaging style. His work connects headlines to context, helping readers understand what matters most in the sport. More about Dogli Wilberforce<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on NASCAR\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch ahead of a NASCAR Cup Series race, as Hamlin weighed in on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602306,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-602305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nascar","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}