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“This Guy Ran What?”: Kyle Busch’s Mesmerized NASCAR Insider in a Memorable First in Charlotte

Published 03/05/2024, 11:11 AM EST

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USA Today via Reuters

Kyle Busch has cemented his status as one of the greatest NASCAR drivers. He has 230 accolades stamped in his name across all three series: Craftsman Truck, Xfinity, and Cup. He also owns two championship titles in the Cup Series and one in Xfinity and hopes to snag a truck title soon. 

Busch’s wheel skills are top-notch with all the invaluable experience flowing like a cape behind him. The moment he hits the road, his hands become golden as he propels his ride to extraordinary speeds. Brian Pattie, veteran crew chief, could not stress this point less after Busch’s debut test race at Charlotte.

No dearth of commendable words for Kyle Busch’s racing skills

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Brian Pattie joined Kyle Busch Motorsports as crew chief of the No. 51 Chevrolet Silverado in 2023. But his liaison with Busch goes a long way back to the early 2000s. He was impressed by Kyle’s skills from the very start when he raced his first Busch Series races.

Pattie’s dewy-eyed reaction to Kyle Busch on the track has not died down even after so many years. He recently opened up about witnessing Busch perform at his Charlotte test race. At first, he talked about how he did not expect a spectacle incoming. “He goes out, I swear, I look out the top of the truck…in my history, just like, ‘don’t wreck it, be calm’, uneventful day”, he further added.

But Pattie was soon to be dazzled, as he said, “And I’ll be damned if he went out and looked like a Cup guy. I was like, ‘This is impressive’. We were fast on the chart, I think we started 15 laps when it started raining. And he comes in, I say, ‘How’s it feeling?’, he says ‘Feels great!’ I’m like, ‘Okay!’”

 

Pattie also shared how Veteran racer Randy Lajoie also added his amazement to the mix. “By that time, obviously must have been raining at Mooresville, so Lajoie calls and says, ‘How’s the test going’, blah blah, and I’m like, ‘man I don’t know what to tell ya’. I remember giving him lap times for whatever, and it was really fast and he’s like, ‘this kid ran what lap time?’ Randy Lajoie is like, ‘What lap time?’ He’s like, ‘Really?’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, it’s amazing.’”

Brian Pattie himself possesses a treasure trove of experience. He is best known for leading Juan Pablo Montoya and Clint Bowyer to Cup wins. He has helped Montoya too score a victory at Watkins Glen International in 2010. Bowyer snagged three wins in 2012 and nearly won the championship under Pattie’s guidance. Even after KBM came under the banner of Spire Motorsports, Brian Pattie continues to work as a crew chief for Kyle Busch.

Busch did not compromise after a drab year

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Presently Kyle Busch has 63 Cup wins under his belt, ranking 9th on the all-time wins list. However, his stellar career could only be built owing to his no-nonsense attitude. Back in 2020, he went through an uneventful year, scoring just a single victory. Then he took matters into his own hands with a sense of urgency.

He requested certain changes to be made to the engineering group on his No. 18 team. When crew chief Adam Stevens refused, Busch gladly parted ways with him and paired up with Ben Beshore.

“We’re expected to win,” Beshore said. “When you’ve got a two-time champion like Kyle Busch, you expect to go out there and run up front in the top 5 every race and just be there at the end.”

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Kyle Busch is pursuing his first win of the 2024 season wildly. We are all pumped to see him speed to a victory in the coming races.

“Who Is at Fault?”- Kyle Busch Criticises Unfair Treatment Against 9-Year-Old Son After Controversial Racing Incident

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Written by:

Sumedha Mukherjee

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Sumedha Mukherjee is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports who is known for her in-depth track analysis as well as her lifestyle coverage of Cup drivers like Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Inspired by the Kiwi's journey so far, Sumedha has also written pieces on Shane Van Gisbergen, predicting how the Supercars Champion would do in the new and unfamiliar American setting. Pairing her research skills with her vast experience as a writer, Sumedha creates stories her readers can easily get lost in.
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Edited by:

Shreya Singh