Has the Rowdy era come and gone? NASCAR has undergone several changes in recent years. These include the Next-Gen car’s antics and a new billion-dollar media deal. But what has stood out most is the playoff challenge. Joey Logano’s shock championship last season drummed up immense controversy, as drivers who performed better during the regular season fell through.
However, Kyle Busch was not among those drivers as he could not win a single race. The Richard Childress Racing driver is currently on a 60 race winless streak, by far the longest of his career. Despite consistent performances, Busch could not make the playoffs last year, as you need to win a race to make it in. NASCAR has received a lot of flak for this format and announced that they are actively looking to make changes heading into 2026 by talking to drivers about their thoughts on the format. Surprisingly, Kyle Busch was not one of those drivers, and he seems quite salty about it.
Kyle Busch laments about NASCAR’s nonchalance
In the wake of the rising playoff controversy, NASCAR is taking steps. It formed the NASCAR playoff committee, which held its first meeting at Daytona International Speedway. The panel had two dozen members – ranging from active and Hall of Fame racers to senior media industry officials. But a glaring absence was noticeable amidst the glitterati – Kyle Busch. The Richard Childress Racing driver is a legend of the sport – his 232 wins across NASCAR’s three tiers rival Richard Petty’s.
So the two-time Cup Series champion was not in the least shocked to be excluded from the playoff committee. During a media availability ahead of the Circuit of the Americas race, Kyle Busch clarified his upset emotions. The press asked him how many committees there are, and Busch’s answer reeked of sarcasm. “Yeah, I guess there’s 5 or 6 or 8 or 10 – I don’t even know how many committees there are…But nobody calls me to be on any of them. So I feel real honored with that. And you know, looking forward to hearing what their changes are.”
Christopher Bell, the COTA race winner and a renowned rival of Kyle Busch, was a prominent part of the committee. NASCAR managing director of racing communications Mike Forde praised the younger driver. “NASCAR has really turned to him as a leader in the garage. I think how he handled the disappointment of Martinsville, we took notice of that. He was vocal and super candid, and I think a lot of people would probably assume that we didn’t care for that, but it’s the opposite. We met with him in January to talk about where we were with the playoffs and to invite him as part of this committee.”
Bell even spoke on the developments before the race at COTA, where he said, “So the goal for the whole thing is to help bring more legitimacy to the championship… hopefully we can get a format that provides a lot of entertainment, a lot of excitement and some amazing finishes to the championship race while upping the legitimacy of the NASCAR Cup Series championship.”
Bell is one of the rising stars in NASCAR and just became the first driver since Kevin Harvick in 2018 to win two out of the three opening races. Meanwhile, Busch seems like a giant star finally fading away into a winless black hole. Could this be the reason for NASCAR ignoring the likes of Kyle Busch while discussing a playoff revamp? Let us know in the comments!
Stay tuned for updates!
The post Ignored by NASCAR, Blunt Kyle Busch Reveals True Feelings on Playoff Committee Exclusion: “Nobody Calls Me” appeared first on EssentiallySports.
