Today’s era of NASCAR is driven by the youth movement. The average age of the NASCAR Cup Series field this season is 31.3.
Last year’s champion, Kyle Larson, won’t turn 30 until later this month and other top contenders, including William Byron and Ross Chastain are in their twenties.
Despite the rise in young talent, 43-year-old Kurt Busch continues to churn out results, and is enjoying it in the process.
“Even without the win at Kansas, this has been one of my most rewarding seasons,” Busch said. “With building the team up, and being a part of something brand new, and going to leave my fingerprints on this when I’m done racing. Just the family atmosphere here at 23XI, it’s what’s made this season fun, and it’s energizing.”
There’s been a lot of change for the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion this year. Between the introduction of the Next Gen car, and joining second-year team 23XI Racing, Busch has been tested in numerous ways.
“The Next Gen car, it doesn’t like to be sideways,” Busch said. “As soon as you step her out, she’s gone. The old car, you were rewarded with how far you could keep the car sideways, because of the side force and the aero side. So it’s just a different feel, and that’s been a big challenge this year.”
Those challenges with figuring out the subtleties of what the limit is for the Next Gen car, has made the racing unpredictable at times this season.
Through the first 17 races this season, there have been 12 different winners, with no clear-cut favorite every week.
For Busch, the consistency hasn’t quite been there for the No. 45 Toyota team, with seven top-10 finishes in those 17 races.
Busch, however, sees his team’s growth.
“It’s just continuing to build, and to learn from small mistakes, and to make sure that you don’t fall into those again,” Busch said. “Then, as the race unfolds, there’s so many new challenges with this car. You got to be ready to roll, and to think quick on your feet. So like, Chase Elliott won the race at Nashville, had a loose wheel during the race, and they were able to overcome it. Those are things that we need to make sure that we learn from the little things, and that’s what Bubba (Wallace) has to do as well with the 23 car. You’re going to have those setbacks, but you just have to challenge your way through it.”
Through the setbacks, things have been looking up for the No. 45 team. Busch and the team have notched three top-five finishes in the last five races, highlighted by a runner-up finish at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway last week.
In a season where consistency is difficult to find, Busch feels that a certain mindset is crucial to be a contender every race.
“I didn’t realize we had that many top fives recently, because of some of those bad finishes,” Busch said. “And how one week goes crazy, and then the other week, ‘here’s a good solid finish.’ (We) just got to stay consistent. Just have to run with the mindset of, ‘we’ve got to be a fifth-place car, to put ourselves in position for wins.’ But yet we can’t push too hard to be fifth. So, this car just has that razor blade edge, and I think everybody has that feel right now. That’s why you’re seeing all these seesaws with finishes.”
After an off week between on the calendar between Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and last week’s race at Nashville, Busch feels the immense charisma within the team as it looks toward the second half of the season.
“This past week, we had a reset with an off-week, and then everybody came back and it’s like this new energy for the second half of the year. It’s almost like we’re treating it like it’s our second year together. That’s how fast we’re trying to grow, and it’s how fast we’re trying to plug in all the puzzle pieces. Everybody’s got that vibe, and that energy to work extra hard, and we just have to continue to keep doing that. There’s going to be setbacks, there’s going to be those tough races. But we all got to get back to the shop, and be there together.”