Denny Hamlin is at a loss for what’s happened to Kyle Busch

On the latest episode of his Actions Detrimental podcast, Denny Hamlin ponders if the Kyle Busch era of NASCAR is over and actually has been longer than most within the community realize.

It’s been three years and 100 races since the two-time Cup Series champion last won at Gateway on June 4, 2023 and it has been a struggle ever since his first half season at Richard Childress Racing. Since then, teammate Austin Dillon has won back-to-back races at Richmond Raceway and Busch doesn’t exactly out run the No. 3 on a weekly basis these days either.

Hamlin offered that Busch should at least be outperforming Dillon by a significant margin and that’s just not happening.

“We keep talking about this but the last couple of years (at Joe Gibbs Racing) was not good; it’s been like this for five years,” Hamlin said. “You’re a Hall of Fame Mount Rushmore driver and if you’re of the greatest, then carry better than your teammate that’s only won 10 races. I think he should be able to do that but it’s not happening.”

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Hamlin said Busch ‘just doesn’t know how to consistently get speed out of the NextGen car,’ and that his three wins in 2023 came in an era where teams were still guessing on set-ups with this car. The parity has increased tremendously since then.

He said that drivers are now responsible for making the difference.

“This is just my opinion, and I can’t hold a helmet to Kyle Busch on talent, but I just think that this is not new,” Hamlin said. “He’s struggled for five years now so we just have to be honest about our expectations.

“If you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to Victory Lane, you’re going to be very disappointed. I just think that, until we change the car or something changes, something has to change, and I have no idea. I’m not in his shoes. I’m not his crew chief. I’m not his engineer and I’m not his team owner. I’m not in the weeds. I’m just a podcaster that happens to be on the race track around him and I can say it’s not working. I don’t have the answers and I think we have to live in this reality for the time being.”

Hamlin wonders if Busch has reached the moment Jimmie Johnson did in 2017 where he went from winning the championship the year before and abruptly stopped being as competitive somewhere shortly afterwards.

“Sometimes the light switch goes off at different times. I don’t know.”

Hamlin doesn’t even know if there is a place for Busch outside of Richard Childress Racing after his contract ends this season. He’s not going back to Joe Gibbs Racing where he was a teammate of Hamlin from 2008 to 2022. Maybe Spire Motorsports could have an opening next year, but again, Hamlin says Busch cannot consistently best Dillon right now in equal cars.

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He says Busch was not that good in the NextGen car in his last season at JGR either. Hamlin pondered if Busch is too ‘hands-on’ when it comes to set-up decisions. Instead of simply telling crew chief Jim Pohlman how the car is driving, Busch is offering specific set-up changes he wants.

“Maybe in the short term,” Hamlin said. “Maybe he just says ‘I am going to give you feedback and just drive the car’ because it’s the drivers job to send them in a direction but that doesn’t mean telling them what to change.”

Hamlin thinks Busch would be better served just focusing on how the car feels rather than simultaneously playing a crew chief – engineer role.

“So I don’t know,” Hamlin said. “I genuinely don’t like seeing one of the most polarizing and popular and talented guys in the sport running where he is at right now. But this is the new reality we have to set ourselves in until we see any kind of change.”

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