Kyle Busch drops bombshell of NASCAR response to last Cup win in 2023 at Gateway: 'Got our hands smacked'

When Kyle Busch got let go from Joe Gibbs Racing in 2022, he decided that Richard Childress Racing was the best spot for him to continue his NASCAR Cup Series career. RCR won four races as an organization that season — Tyler Reddick winning three in the No. 8 Chevrolet — the first of the Next Gen car.

Busch saw a team ahead of the curve when it came to figuring out the Next Gen car. So, he hopped on board to take the seat previously belonging to Reddick. Busch started off hot in 2023, winning three of his first 15 races in RCR equipment. But since winning that third race at Gateway in June of that year, Busch has gone winless. As a whole, RCR is significantly behind teams such as JGR, Team Penske, and Hendrick Motorsports, the “Big Three” of NASCAR.

At the time when Busch was winning, everyone was still trying to find the advantage in the Next Gen car. Now in year five, the teams with the most resources have it and then some.

“I got let go from JGR, and I went to RCR because I was like, ‘Hey, they won three races last year, they should have won six. Surely, I can win the same amount, right?’ My second race out, I won in the No. 8 car at RCR. We won three races that year. We probably should have won two or three more [but] stuff happens in racing, stuff out of your control,” Busch told Sean Hannity of FOX News in a “Hang Out with Sean Hannity” interview released Tuesday.

“To me, they were ahead of the game. They were ahead of everyone else. And as everyone has learned this car, the little tricks of the trade, the little things you gotta do, now Gibbs, Penske, and Hendrick have all got it all figured out and they’re the top teams, and we really haven’t come up with any more advancements to it, so we’ve fallen behind.”

Kyle Busch: NASCAR stepped in after 2023 Gateway win

Busch then revealed an interesting tidbit about the 2023 season. After taking the checkered flag at Gateway, Busch said they got their “hands smacked” by NASCAR, who didn’t like what they were doing to the race car. RCR had found an advantage and NASCAR apparently put a stop to it.

“In 2023 when we won those three races, after the third race that we won at Gateway, we got our hands smacked for some of the stuff we were doing to the race car that NASCAR didn’t like and said, ‘Don’t bring that back,'” Busch said. “That’s happened over the course of NASCAR [for its existence]. It wasn’t anything, like, against the rules. It was just, you always exploit the gray area. So we exploited a gray area and we found something and we had an advantage.”

Busch said they were essentially “cheating without cheating.” They weren’t breaking any rules, but NASCAR felt something needed to change.

“It’s cheating without cheating. It makes it faster. You want more downforce, you wanna make it lighter, you wanna travel the car more because there’s rules and limitations around all that stuff,” Busch said. “So, you go and you try to figure out ways of making more downforce than everybody else, getting your car lower to the ground, lower CG, getting around the corners faster. You do all of those things.”

Busch did finish second in his first start following Gateway, and compiled three more top 10s in as many races after. But after ending the season on a bit of a skid, he took a complete step back in 2024 and another in 2025, failing to make the playoffs in each season.

Now nine races into the 2026 season, Busch is still searching for his first top-10 finish. He’s finished 21st or worse in five consecutive races, sitting a stunning 27th in the points standings.