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The Marty Smith Podcast: Kurt Busch Explains the Differences in the Next Gen Cars

Our guys Marty Smith and Wes Blankenship are down in Daytona taking in the action. Kurt Busch talked with the two about these Next Gen cars.

This is going to be talked about all season. These Next Gen cars look meaner, they sound great, and they are going to put a better product on the track… hopefully. Teams are going to get to know these cars very well. Kurt Busch and his team are ready to get things going. You know that Marty had to ask about the new cars and what all is different with them versus what drivers used before.

“It’s fun to drive, being so different with the sequential gearbox, the bigger brakes, the suspension being independent in the rear. I’ve never driven a car on an oval with independent rear suspension,” Kurt Busch says about the new cars. “When we get to road courses later, these cars are going to be two seconds quicker, because of their speed and agility switching back left and right. But then the aero package is somewhat numbed up. And that’s why we’re a little slower right now at Daytona, and that’s why the draft is a little different.”

Check out the rest of The Marty Smith Podcast live from Daytona.

Kurt Busch Says Brakes Were the First Thing That Impressed Him About Next Gen Cars

To follow-up, Wes got in a question about what blew Kurt Busch away when he first drove the new car. Last season there were all kinds of tests going on between races at the end of the season. Busch got to be part of those tests. It isn’t the suspension or the digital rearview mirror. No, it’s the braking power.

“It was at the Roval test in Charlotte and it was the brakes. Like our braking marker on a back straight away… was at 700 yards to the corner,” Busch continued. “You can take this thing almost to 400. Like the braking distance is going to be phenomenal when we really get the science down. And the acceleration was about the same, but it just depends on what horsepower we end up running. But it was the brakes.”

300 yards fewer to brake and hit the corner? Yeah, that’s going to be valuable all season long and should be something that fans are able to take note of.

Kurt Busch is such an experienced driver. He wants to get out there and test himself with these new cars. As one of the best drivers in modern history, Busch has a lot to give to the sport still. That’s one of the reasons why he decided to come back for another two years at least with 23XI. He has a couple of seasons to make Michael Jordan’s team legit. With Bubba Wallace, one of the most famous names in the sport, the team has what it needs. Now, it just has to produce results.