{"id":619247,"date":"2026-04-21T17:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T17:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T17:21:08","slug":"kyle-busch-admits-he-was-pissed-off-at-nascar-win-streak-ending-as-fans-began-to-cheer-him-sounds-off-on-next-gen-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/619247\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch admits he was pissed off at NASCAR win streak ending as fans began to cheer him, sounds off on Next Gen car"},"content":{"rendered":"

From 2005-2023, Kyle Busch found his way to Victory Lane at least once every season. He became arguably the most hated driver in NASCAR<\/a> during that time period, the majority of which he spent driving the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.<\/p>\n

But during the 2023 season, Busch experienced a shift within the fanbase. Speaking with Sean Hannity of FOX News in a \u201cHang\u00a0Out\u00a0with\u00a0Sean\u00a0Hannity<\/a>\u201d interview released Tuesday, Busch said that he could see more fans pulling for him once he left JGR\/Toyota and joined Richard Childress Racing\/Chevrolet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m the third-oldest statesman on the tour right now, but when I was with M&M\u2019s and Toyota and driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, I was public enemy number one. That was just sort of my persona. I leaned into it, I wore the black hat. I was winning all the time, so you could play with the fans. You could say stuff to them to kind of rile them up and be that villain, right?\u201d Busch said. \u201cAnd then I moved over to Richard Childress Racing. I joined Team Chevy, and instantly there was kind of a switch, like a little bit of a flip of fans, of haters, that were like, \u2018I\u2019ll pull for Kyle now, he\u2019s in a Chevy.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018OK, this is good, you know, I\u2019ll take it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I won three races that year. We ran OK, and more people kind of were like, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019re pulling for Kyle.\u2019 And now, unfortunately, I didn\u2019t win a race last year. Last year was the first year that I hadn\u2019t won a race in NASCAR in 19 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch got off to a hot start with RCR, winning three races in his first 15 starts. Since then, nothing much has gone right for Busch and the No. 8 team. Over 100 races have passed since Busch last took the checkered flag in June 2023. This season, he sits a shocking 27th in the points standings.<\/p>\n

Busch set an all-time NASCAR record in 2023 by going 19 consecutive seasons with a win in the Cup Series, breaking a tie with seven-time champion Richard Petty. That streak meant a lot to Busch, and it deeply upset him when it came to an end. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt does, because it was the record,\u201d Busch said when Hannity asked if it pissed him off. \u201cRichard Petty had the record at 18 seasons. I set it at 19 seasons. And so now this year, I haven\u2019t won a race yet this year either, but people are like, I wouldn\u2019t say they\u2019re dying for me to win, but they\u2019re pulling for you. They\u2019re pulling for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re like, \u2018Man, we hated this guy, we never wanted to see him win another race.\u2019 And now they\u2019re like, \u2018We\u2019ll eat those words. We want to see this guy win another race.\u2019 So I feel like public perception has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyle Busch and the Next Gen car do not mix well <\/p>\n

Right now, it would be considered a surprise if Busch got to Victory Lane anytime soon. That\u2019s the current state of affairs for the future Hall of Famer, who hasn\u2019t been able to adjust as well to the Next Gen car. Now in year five of the Gen-7, Busch admitted the car doesn\u2019t suit his strengths as a driver. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was always that guy that felt like I could make the difference. I could be the difference maker. I could go out there, and I could drive that car past its limit and make it go faster and pass the other guys I felt like I was better than,\u201d Busch said. \u201cNow I feel like anytime I pass the limit of this new car\u2026 I just spin the damn thing out. You can\u2019t overdrive this car because it\u2019s so on edge. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot more for me to get out of the race car, so I feel stuck with the car that I have. Everybody goes to the racetrack with the car that they have, but now you\u2019re starting to see the top-five guys are the same top-five guys every week. Sixth through 10th is the same sixth through 10th every week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From 2005-2023, Kyle Busch found his way to Victory Lane at least once every season. He became arguably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":619248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-619247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619247","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=619247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}