"All of us are waiting for that blow up": Kevin Harvick surprised with Kyle Busch's new-found speed and composure this season

During a recent episode of Kevin Harvick's Happy Hour, the former NASCAR driver expressed his surprise at Kyle Busch's form and finishes of late. The RCR driver has suffered a season full of woes and free of wins and currently finds himself out of contention for the playoffs.

But following just one finish inside the top 20 in 6 races, Busch seems to have recently found some extra speed in his car. He finished in 12th place at Richmond, followed by a 4th place finish at Michigan, a race he was in contention for.

Harvick has found this sudden uptick in form surprising. He said:

“I just want to know what happened. How’d we get here? How in the world did they take two weeks off and these cars start running like they’re running? Because I don’t know, those cars, I mean, at Richmond, Austin Dillon’s...I mean, he had the best car. And we go to Michigan, Kyle Busch leads a bunch of laps and runs up front. Fires off today like a light switch, and, you know, runs up front." [19:00]

The former SHR driver praised RCR for doing a good job with their cars in the two-week Olympic break before Richmond, after which the cars have been in "a better position," calling it "a different ballgame."

His co-host Katelyn Vincie said a Busch win at Daytona was possible, which Harvick agreed to, considering the driver's newfound speed.

Harvick further praised Busch's calmness and composure this year given the nervy moments and finishes the #8 team has had:

“In the end, as bad as they’ve had their moments this year with everything that has happened, Kyle’s handled it pretty good. I think that all of us are waiting for that blow up, that we’re waiting for Kyle to blow up, and it hasn’t come. I mean, he’s done a pretty good job, for as bad as things have been, between the pit stops, the poor performance of the cars, the crashes, the bad luck, the injury, all the things that have gone on," Harvick said. [21:00]

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Kevin Harvick couldn't see a win in sight for Kyle Busch a month ago

Before Kyle Busch's promising finishes in back-to-back races, at Richmond and Michigan, Kevin Harvick wasn't that hopeful for a Busch win this year.

During an episode of his show last month, Harvick spoke about Busch's luck this year:

"When things go well, he gets caught in somebody else's mess. Nothing is going right for Kyle Busch, and most of the time recently, they haven't had the speed to do what they need to make up for that. That's the difference between the #20 and the #11 and some of these other cars that are having issues—they have the speed, and that keeps the confidence level high. What a terrible position he's in. I don't see a win anywhere in sight," Harvick said. [14:15]

It's worth mentioning that Harvick's comments came at a time when Busch was going through a series of DNF finishes. At one point, Busch had 4 DNF finishes in 7 race starts.

Yet this was before the two-week break, following which Busch has found some speed in his car, followed by good results.

So with two races left in the regular season, Daytona and Darlington, it'll be interesting to see if Rowdy can take a win and book his spot in the playoffs.