NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. — Kyle Busch has a simple message for Tony Stewart as the NASCAR Hall of Famer prepares to return to the Craftsman Truck Series at Daytona International Speedway.
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"I hope he doesn't plan on finishing," Busch told NASCAR media members during a test session at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
Stewart will compete at Daytona International Speedway on Friday, Feb. 13. He will join Kaulig Racing and take over the No. 25 Ram 1500, which will be the team's All-Star entry.
This start will mark Stewart's first time competing in the Craftsman Truck Series since Dover Motor Speedway in 2005. He finished second in the event.
The series has significantly changed since Stewart turned his attention to the other national series and then NHRA. The series has grown significantly more aggressive, leading to some critical comments from series veterans.
Daytona International Speedway is also a high-speed superspeedway where wrecks regularly occur. The majority of early Truck Series races at the track featured seven or fewer cautions, but that has not been the case in recent seasons.
Three of the last seven season-opening races have featured double-digit cautions, a fact quite familiar to Busch during his time as a team owner.
"I need to get him one of my shirts that I wore there a few years ago, where this is the most expensive day of the year for the owners," Busch said about Stewart.
Kyle Busch's shirt for tonight #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/9kgt65Soos
— Eric Estepp (@EricEstepp17) February 19, 2022
This particular shirt featured the text that Busch referenced, as well as a pile of burning money. Busch wore this shirt ahead of the season-opening Daytona race in 2022.
Corey Heim failed to finish the race in a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck while Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek finished 21st and 24th, respectively. All three drivers were involved in multi-vehicle crashes.
Busch expects this to continue, even with NASCAR moving all of its national series away from the elimination playoff format and the concept of "win and you're in." He believes the driver aggressiveness and wrecks will continue well into the future.
"When you watch all the children that race all year long in the ARCAs and the late models and other things, and you see that stuff already, they're taught from a very, very young age to dive bomb and run into them and door that guy," Busch said.
"Being a dad, I've heard those words (I had to do it), and maybe I've said those words once or twice, but it's... yeah, I don't think you'll... you won't change a whole lot."
