NASCAR
Bob Pockrass, NASCAR 6y

Kyle Busch says competition on the track 'as close as it's ever been'

NASCAR

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kyle Busch sees NASCAR consistently change rules to try to make for better racing with as much competition up front as possible.

But Busch said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where track officials have put a traction compound on the lower 4 feet of the track surface in hopes of creating a fast-enough inside lane so drivers have options, that there is only so much the sanctioning body can do.

"We've tried so many different things over the course of the years that I'm not so sure that you can fabricate racing into anything better than what exists," the 2015 NASCAR Cup champion said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. "People say about how great it was back in the day -- you had two guys, three guys on the lead lap sometimes. ... Now you have 25 cars on the lead lap, competition is as close as it's ever been and we're complaining about it because there is a lack of competition.

"I don't know what you expect to be competition unless you want the last guy to be able to be the first-place guy. There is always going to be a last-place guy. It's been in F1 forever. It's been in NASCAR forever."

NASCAR announced Wednesday that it will use restrictor plates for the NASCAR All-Star Race next month at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Busch wasn't a fan of that package when it was used for the Xfinity Series race last year at Indianapolis, but NASCAR was happy with it in general.

"I've got to give it a chance first -- it's Charlotte -- to see what it's like before I completely throw it out," Busch said. "But that's not what I signed up to be a NASCAR driver for: for us to continue to scrunch the field and take advantages away from those guys who are fast."

Busch said he doesn't have a good idea to make racing better.

But he does have an idea of how to handle it.

"It's just everybody wants opposite of what they see, what they get. ... Nobody's happy," Busch said matter-of-factly before deadpanning, "so be miserable like me and then nothing will surprise you."

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