Whereas Kyle Busch Having given Richard Childress Racing its first Cup win of the season last month, his biggest contribution may be how he steers the organization and the teams he aligns with RCR.
Busch’s level of preparation, his comments and questions at meetings made an impact early in his tenure.
“He’s bringing things to the table for us that we don’t have,” RCR vice president of competition Andy Petrie told NBC Sports.
Austin Dillon cited Busch’s response as the impact his new team would have when announcing the deal with Busch last September.
Dillon then said, “You’ll probably never suspect any kind of reaction from him.” “If he says the cars are struggling here, we’ll work on that.”
Busch said he and his team discussed in January how they prepare for each event and how to incorporate those ideas into their meetings.
“I raised many different topics,” said Bush. “I still don’t have all that I want to accomplish yet. Most of it is data-driven and stuff you get after practice or after qualifying, so there’s still a lot of emphasis on that.” Is.
Busch described team meetings this season as going “well”.
“I think they’ve been a little productive,” he said. “Hopefully the people who are with us in those meetings feel the same way, so it makes a good sense. I know Austin and I’ve really liked how it is and how we’ve set it up.” So it’s been useful to us.
Petrie, who was Dale Earnhardt’s crew chief for Earnhardt’s last two Cup championships, says Busch provides more details with the car than Earnhardt.
Petrie said, “Earndhart was an incredible driver, but he didn’t have the skill that Kyle has to break down so many details in the car.” “Earnhart would come out and you would get every ounce of speed that was in him, but he wasn’t really great in terms of giving a detailed response.
“You had to pull anything out of it. … Kyle would just rip it apart, things you don’t even think about.
Kaulig Racing and Legacy Motor Club align with Richard Childress Racing and all three teams run together. Kaulig Racing justin haley Says seeing how Busch works in those sessions has made an impact on him.
Haley said, “I would say Kyle, he never asks questions.” “If he had any thoughts about what would happen or why, he wasn’t afraid to ask. I really appreciate that.
“Our alliance and our organization in general, he pushes us. He’s not afraid to say, ‘Hey, this is not what we’re supposed to do. Oh that’s wrong’ or ‘Oh that’s right.’
“I think what you appreciate about him is that he always asks why. Even though he has so much experience, he always has to learn. He’s pushing us all in a good direction.” Are.”
Eric Jones Experienced team meetings with Busch when both were at Joe Gibbs Racing. Now with Legacy Motor Club, Jones is again looking to see what impact Busch can make with a team away from the track.
Jones said, “He goes to the meetings just like we used to do in those days. “I think it’s been really good for the group. I think, overall, it’s brought some good structure, it’s brought some good and better feedback and maybe more focusing on the right things, which There really are things that make cars go faster.
2. Restart Zone Plans
Sunday’s event at Atlanta Motor Speedway marked the final race in NASCAR’s five-race test with the expanded restart area. Series officials will decide after this weekend whether to keep the restart field at its current size or return it to its smaller size.
NASCAR expanded the length of the restart area to give the leader more time to decide when to go. In a smaller restart area, other drivers have more chance to anticipate when the leader will go and match him, limiting the leader’s advantage.
The only major incident in the restart zone occurred at Fontana, California, when leader joey logano Waited towards the end zone to go. The other cars behind guessed when he would go and then had to slow down as he had yet to accelerate, affecting an accordion collecting nine cars.
“I don’t think this will be the last time you’ll see it,” Ross Chastain said about the incident. “I don’t think it will be that big, but there will be some stack-ups and some bumper-tagging going on.”
Kyle Busch said he did not believe the extended restart field provided much of an advantage for the leader.
“I think all it has done is cause havoc in California,” Bush said. “So, in my opinion, it hasn’t done anything different; Nothing on the positive end. This only added a negative ending to it because in California, Joey was just keeping his pace and everyone was getting, getting, getting and closing their laps as they all started to retreat. Trying and then running.
“So he just waited for everybody to run and then went to the end of the zone. So the later you build that zone, the more anticipation everybody has and the more accordion effect you’ll get.” I knew that going in, and I was not a proponent of tallying that area, but no one fully listens to me.
Martin Truex Jr.Joe, who said he is fine with the restart zones continuing as they are, said what the drivers do is what matters.
“They tell us all the time not to hold back from restarting,” he said. “Many people get away with doing it a lot more than others. As long as we all stay closed, it won’t be a problem. It has given the leader an advantage, which it should be.”
3. Reunion
All four Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs suspended As part of the significant penalty imposed by NASCAR Teams against for modification to hood louvers – leads Reuniting a driver/crew chief combination,
Greg will serve as crew chief for Ives Alex Bowman This weekend in Atlanta. Ives was Bowman’s crew chief from 2018-22, working 10 races together, with Bowman filling in for an injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. In 2016.
Ives worked on the Garage 56 car Hendrick Motorsports is preparing for its NASCAR performance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
Asked if Ives helped speed up communication between Bowman and new crew chief Blake Harris this season, Bowman said last weekend: “Things have been great. Greg is very much into the Garage 56 deal.” Busy. I’ve seen him here and there but not a ton. I think Greg was really good about preparing Blake and helping him with the transition, but he’s super busy right now.
Although Hendrick Motorsports is appealing the penaltyThe team decided that all four crew chiefs would have to sit out this weekend’s races in order for them to count towards one of the four races should they lose their appeals.
Not having a regular crew chief this weekend shouldn’t adversely affect the Hendrick teams. There is no practice. Cars only have to qualify before the race. Crew chiefs generally have limited influence in superspeedway races.
4. Focused
With his move to the cup, the rookie Ty Gibbs No more going back and forth between Xfinity and the Cup Series. Last year, Gibbs won the Xfinity Championship and ran 15 Cup races, replacing the injured Kurt Busch,
With his focus on the Cup, this allowed him to concentrate on preparing for those events and to take some time off.
“A little bit more peaceful, for sure,” Gibbs said of this season compared to last year and running both series. “Having a little more free time… I think that’s really important. I think it has allowed me to devote more time to studying one thing, which has allowed me to get over the learning curve quicker, because I was worried about winning championships in the second series and so on Something was going on.
What Gibbs Can Appreciate josh berry doing, competing in the Xfinity Series while filling in for an injured Chase Elliott,
Gibbs said, “I respect Josh and really appreciate it.” “He’s a good friend of mine and he’s a really great racecar driver and very talented. Happy for him for this opportunity and hope Chase gets well soon.”
“But for (Berry), I think the biggest thing is to enjoy the moment. It’s really tough because there’s so much going on. You’re worried about running Xfinity and the Cup. Just enjoying the moment.” Take it. I think that’s the biggest thing. Learn as much as you can.”
5. Avoiding History
The two Atlanta races last year combined for 24 cautions — including 19 for incidents.
At least 30 cars were involved in accidents in both races last year, the first year of a track reconfiguration that included high banking in turn one.
Both races had at least one accident involving at least nine cars.
“I think Atlanta is probably the most mentally draining place we go now,” Chase Briscoe Said. “It’s a hybrid of sorts. It’s obviously a shorter track versus Daytona or Talladega versus a full mile, but it’s the same concept of racing.
“You’re in a pack, but with a mile less, things happen so much faster. Your reaction time has to be better. Runs develop so much faster and faster. Your spotter has to be able to communicate with you much faster.” And your brain has to process things very quickly.
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Friday 5: Kyle Busch off the track making an impact at RCR originally appeared NBCSports.com
