Denny Hamlin believes Kyle Busch should be on the 'Mount Rushmore' of drivers

Kyle Busch is considered not only one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of his generation, but of all-time.

“Rowdy” has accomplished quite a bit — a two-time Cup Series champion and 63-time winner at just 38 years old. Sunday was win No. 3 on the season for Busch, who started on the pole and raced his No. 8 Chevrolet to victory lane in the Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

After a hot start to the 2023 campaign, Denny Hamlin, Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate for 15 seasons (2008-22), feels Busch should be on the “Mount Rushmore” of NASCAR, he said on his “Actions Detrimental” podcast Monday.

“We were talking about [Busch] after the race, and it was just like wow, he’s got three wins,” Hamlin said. “I don’t know why, but that just sticks in my head — the poor runs they’ve had, but when they’re fast, he wins. He finishes really well. Kyle — he probably needs to be on the Mount Rushmore of greatest drivers. The numbers back it up. He is a great, elite, exceptional race car driver.”

Should Busch win championship No. 3 this season, his first with Richard Childress Racing, he will become just the ninth driver to accomplish the feat. He currently sits seventh in the points standings and is one of two drivers with three wins through the first 15 races (William Byron).

Kyle Busch goes to victory lane in Enjoy Illinois 300

Busch led 121 laps, including the last 60, to pick up the victory. He credited his proficiency during the final restarts for helping him fend off Hamlin and Joey Logano in the final laps of the race.

“Just the restarts kind of went our way,” Busch said after the race, via NBC Sports. “We were able to get through on the outside on that one and push [Kyle] Larson out, then he took bottom of [Turns] 3 and 4, I was able to carry the momentum around the high side to take the lead. That was really important. I think that was kind of the key moment of us being able to win today.

“Being able to control the rest of the restarts for the rest of the race. Kyle is one of the best. It’s good to be able to sit up here and race hard with him, being a Team Chevy partner. He gave me great respect, I appreciate that. That will be given back down the road.”