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RCR Team Member unearths the “Achilles Heel” Restricting Kyle Busch’s Complete Dominance this Season

Published 07/13/2023, 2:42 AM EDT

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Rowdy is on a run this season. Returning to NASCAR in a rather dramatic sequence, Kyle Busch has shown his caliber as one of the best drivers in the division. With 3 wins already this season, he has shown no signs of stopping. But despite his consistent point-paying performances this season, he sees himself behind Martin Truex Jr and Hendrick Motorsports prodigy William Byron.

The man behind the mic for Busch, Randall Burnett, claims he might know the area where the #8 has lacked this season. He also goes on to highlight the team’s deficiencies in a short-track race. Appearing on the MRN Crew Call with hosts Steve Post and Todd Gordon, Burnett’s analysis gives us a fair idea of what the team will be looking to improve.

Kyle Busch crew chief, addresses the inability on short tracks

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The two-time Cup champion has gone from strength to strength this season. 12 top 10s in 19 races this season; these numbers show the incredible season Busch is having. But a certain something that has kept bugging Richard Childress Racing is what Randall wants to shed light on. Talking about Busch’s success this season, Randall says,

“Yes, I think overall, it’s been pretty successful for us. Obviously, we got some wins and you know, a handful of top 5s and a lot of top 10s, you know, I think there’s definitely some more room for improvement for us.”

“We gotta clean up some things to get a little bit better with our short-track program and find what Kyle needs on those. Those have been kind of our Achilles heel, you would say.” 

Speaking about the atmosphere in their build-up to races, he adds more details about the areas that need some assessment.

“Our intermediate program’s been really good, our Superspeedway stuff’s been really good so far, and ran really well on the road courses. So you know, we gotta just clean up on some details, I feel like. Just you know, some communication things, some execution things and I think we’re in a fairly good spot. “

Burnett further took us back to the World Wide Technology Raceway, which was infamous for its power outage this year. Kyle Busch won at the oval track to claim his third win of the season.

Burnett discusses the strengths and weaknesses of their car

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“Well, I think, you know the Gateway win we had a great car there.” continues Randall. ” In practice we were okay and we did a lot of communicate and made adjustments throughout the weekend. The thing with the Gateway deal is it is an intermediate aero package right.”

In March, NASCAR announced a new aerodynamic rules package for the shorter tracks on the schedule. The package aims to reduce the downforce of the car to bring betterment in the racing quality. In recent news, an addition of a splitter has also been announced that surprisingly increases the downforce for the vehicles to help them in dirty air.

Talking about the conditions of the Gateway, Randall then emphasizes the essence of balance in terms of the overall performance of the car.

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“It races like a short track but its kind of the intermediate package, aero package that we have some success with. You know the balance of that short track package has maybe thrown us a bit little of loop to try and find where we need to be mechanically. Just find a field for him, you know, places like Richmond and Phoenix and those places.”

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NASCAR’s attempt to optimize the shorter track experience has led them to introduce newer additions to cars. The lift provided by the aero package has not found many suitors on the short tracks either with higher chances of dirty air in the traffic.

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Written by:

Ansuman Abhisek

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Ansuman Abhisek is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. As an engineering graduate, he has a strong affinity for cars, and it didn't take long for him to translate that into his love for the sport. He is a big fan of Kyle Busch and believes that the Richard Childress Driver still has his best years ahead of him.
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