Kevin Harvick: ‘Aggravated, agitated’ Kyle Busch was close to Days of Thunder moment

The start to the 2024 Cup Series season hasn’t been kind to Kyle Busch.

Busch, the two-time Cup Series champion, has finished 26th, 22nd and 25th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively. At one point during this past Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol, Busch was driving in reverse, which he’s good for at least a couple times every season.

Kevin Harvick, speaking on his “Happy Hour” podcast this week, called Busch’s reverse ride down the frontstretch after a Lap 123 spin his “Days of Thunder moment.”

“That’s a lot of downshifting to put it in reverse and in neutral,” Harvick said. “It’s definitely intentional. … It’s like that Days of Thunder moment, ‘Harry, put the tires back on my car, put the tires on my car.’ It’s gonna come down to one of those moments where he’s gonna drive out of the pits and stuff it right into the side of the pace car or something.”

Kevin Harvick sums up Kyle Busch’s woes at Bristol

Whatever it was, it was indicative of the season Busch is having — his second with Richard Childress Racing. Harvick went onto to describe Busch as an “agitated” and “aggravated” driver.

“He is aggravated,” Harvick said. “Agitated, aggravated — whatever word you wanna use. He is definitely frustrated. Last week at Phoenix, they had a super tough weekend. You know, we started this race at Bristol, and he was diamond in the corners and pulling the car back down and had no idea that the tires were going to do what they did.

“… Kyle’s had a tough time and really in the Next Gen car at Bristol, [it] hasn’t been the same for him as it was in the previous generation of car. He’s an eight-time winner at Bristol but it’s just not been as good for him in the Next Gen car.”

Busch summed up his day after the race.

“Today was one of those days where you just try to survive and get the best finish you can,” Busch said. “Our FICO Chevrolet was good at the beginning of the race. And we were able to work our way into the lead. The right-side tire wear was a huge factor and unfortunately led to me spinning out a couple of times. We were able to make up that lost time by taking the wave around during a caution just past halfway. And catching a yellow flag about 50 laps later that put us back on the lead lap.

“Crew chief Randall Burnett and the guys worked hard on the car all day. But the balance was just too tight. At the end of the race, we stretched out tire wear as far as we could go before pitting. But unfortunately, had to stop under green.”