Air blocking is the new boogeyman in NASCAR, and Kyle Busch and others would like to see NASCAR make a major change. Kyle Larson suggested it last week after Dover and Busch agreed with his Chevy teammate this week.
Among all of the changes that could be made to the Next Gen car, I’m not sure that the camera and mirror would be on the top of my list of priorities. Denny Hamlin argues that he doesn’t use the camera much when air blocking, relying on his spotter instead.
However, this is now two very talented Cup Series champions that have argued it is a big deal. So, who am I to disagree?
Jeff Gluck of The Athletic reported that Kyle Busch echoed the same sentiments as Larson this week. He belives they should only have the small side mirror on the driver’s side for safety reasons.
“1000%,” Busch said about removing the camera and mirror from the cars.
“[Only using spotters] gives you a separation point. The camera or the mirror right now is zero separation. You can literally just watch the thing and just go [move to air block] instantly, right?”
NASCAR drivers are growing tired of this car, you can tell. There are certain races that are better than others, but all around, people are not happy with the car. Plain and simple. There is hopefully, going to be work done to improve the tires on short tracks and road courses.
Right now, I’m not sure that there are many solutions that wouldn’t change the car drastically. Those changes take time due to new parts being made and getting them setup.
Among all of the things that could be done, I guess removing a mirror and camera from each car wouldn’t be the most difficult thing in the world. So, why not?
Kyle Busch getting back to his old self
The Richard Childress Racing organization has had a hard time this season. However, starting at Texas, things began to turn around. Austin Dillon has been racing and qualifying well. Last week Kyle Busch won the pole and earned a top-5 finish.
Rowdy expects to be competitive. He won three races last season in his first year with RCR. He knows that this organization can give him winning cars and put him in position on Sundays to win.
Busch talked about getting back to “normal” after his top-5 finish at Dover. He’s right. We should all expect to see Busch in the top-5 on Sundays and we should expect him to be a championship contender. If RCR can’t give him that for the rest of the season, then I’m not sure where that relationship goes in the near future.
Kyle Busch wants changes to come to the Next Gen car. I’m not surprised by that, many drivers feel the same way. I think what Busch wants more than anything is to run well and consistently run well.
More must-reads: