NASCAR legend issues Kyle Busch greatness verdict after playoff failure

NASCAR legend Kevin Harvick has questioned whether or not Kyle Busch can still do what made him great in the Gen 7 Cup Series car.

The Gen 7 car - or next-gen car as it is commonly referred to - was introduced for the 2022 season, and since then, Busch has only won a Cup Series race on four occasions, the last of which came at Gateway in June 2023.

Sadly for Busch fans, that means that 'Rowdy' has now gone two-plus seasons without a victory, consequently failing to make the playoffs for two consecutive seasons.

Harvick has pointed to the next-gen car as a potential cause for this, claiming that Busch can't do what previously made him great in the new machinery.

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Kyle Busch greatness hampered by next-gen car

“Everything that made Kyle Busch good up until this Gen 7 car was the fact that he could drive it over the limit, save the car, and he could tell you every single thing that you needed to put in the car to make it go fast," Harvick explained on the Happy Hour show.

“He knew the springs, he knew the shocks, he knew everything that was going on. Not going to happen in Gen 7 racing.

“You’re not going to know the springs and the shocks, and it’s just a way different dynamic of what it takes to make this car go fast. You’re not building cars that are specifically built to your driving style from an aero balance standpoint.

"You’ve got what you’ve got, and every time that this [No.], 8 car is in position, it’s a spin out, a wreck, or something on pit road, or something happens that’s going on, and just can’t finish the deal."

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Busch can't find the feel

Harvick continued: “I think that for Kyle, he’s in a position where he knows he wants to win, and he knows everybody wants him to win, and he knows he needs to win, he knows in those positions where he can win, and then he pushes it over the edge.

“And that’s always what made Kyle Busch great, he could go a little too far and save the car.

"Now he just can’t find that feel of putting himself in that position.”

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