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Kyle Busch Confesses Regrets Undermining His Greatness in NASCAR

Published 04/10/2024, 1:23 AM EDT

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Two Cup Series championships, one Xfinity Series championship, a WWE 24/7 championship, and one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers. Those are only some of the many accolades earned in Kyle Busch’s extensive 19-year Cup Series career. In each of those 19 full-time years, Rowdy has won at least one race en route to creating Hall of Fame-caliber history.

But between the victory lanes and unbelievable accomplishments, he has certainly established himself as one of NASCAR’s greatest active champions. After starting on somewhat of a slump in his sophomore year driving for Richard Childress Racing, Busch realizes how much “greater” his numbers can be in comparison to his 2024 fortunes. 

“How good could it have been?” Kyle Busch reflects on missed opportunities

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Kenny Wallace initiates a brilliant conversation with Kyle Busch on a recent release of “Kenny Conversation”’ with his two-time champion guest. Kenny begins by iterating KFB’s glorious commendations, and then he asks Busch the all-important question: “What goes through your mind when I take you back through your accomplishments?”

An appreciative and heartfelt Rowdy promptly replied, “I mean just how grateful I am and how appreciative I am of the opportunity to be in NASCAR, to be able to have achieved all of that, and thankful to those that have helped me along the way. There’s been a lot of great people that I’ve been associated with and been able to work with…” 

“But then also, the Kyle demeanor, the Busch demeanor, whatever it might be, looks at all of that and says ‘damn, how good could it have been… You know what I mean?” Busch stated it rhetorically.

Arguably mellowing down as time passes, Rowdy then explains his contrasting perspectives. “Like there’s plenty of other accolades, as you mentioned, that you know you could go on and on with, but it’s the ones that get away I think that kind of hurts the most because I know how much greater those numbers could sound or those numbers could be if it wasn’t for small little details in those races that just didn’t go my way.”

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Yet, in pursuit of eternal glory and championship standards with every single race, Busch also elaborated on exactly what fuels his expectations. He concluded by saying, “I think my running average right now. I ruined it at Vegas a few weeks back in the trucks but I think I had finished first, second, or third in the last 15 or 16 races in a row before finishing… 16th. But anyways just stuff like that….”

Can Rowdy rewrite history with Richard Childress Racing?

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However, his host, 3x Busch Series Most Popular Driver-award recipient Kenny Wallace, had the perfect counter to Busch’s exemplary aspirations, mentioned above. “I believe that is what makes you so great. You always know you could be better.” Having joined RCR from Joe Gibbs Racing, the team he won two championships with, only last year, Busch claimed three victories in the #8 Chevrolet and his new surroundings. With Rowdy’s arrival, this is the first time Richard Childress has found himself an active champion driving one of his cars since Dale Earnhardt’s tragic demise in 2001. 

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Busch could also add his name to the record books by giving RCR their first Cup Series championship since 1994. Interestingly, out of the five iconic drivers who have won the Bill France Cup three times, only Tony Stewart and David Pearson have done so with two different teams. Can Busch add his name to this exclusive list as soon as this year?

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Written by:

Amman Augustin

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Amman Augustin is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. With his coverage majorly focusing on the lavish off-track lives of drivers, Amman often brings the lesser-known side of Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick to their fans. Another aspect of NASCAR where he flourishes is covering rivalries between competitors.
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Edited by:

Shivali Nathta