Kyle Petty: Kyle Busch is still the greatest racecar driver in NASCAR

Following his latest victory in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, many believe that Kyle Larson is the best driver in NASCAR at this moment in time.

And it’s easy to see why.

At just 31 years of age, Larson has 24 victories and a Cup Series championship to his name. 18 of his wins have come since he joined Hendrick Motorsports ahead of the 2021 season, including 10 in his first season behind the wheel of the No. 5 Chevrolet.

There’s no doubt what Larson has done is impressive, but Kyle Petty isn’t ready to call him the “greatest race car driver on the face of the Earth” just yet. That honor, Petty said in a NASCAR.com video, goes to Kyle Busch, whom he says is “still getting it done” at age 38.

“We talk about Kyle Larson being the greatest race car driver on the face of the Earth at this point in time. You read it in any paper, you pick it up, you see it all the time,” Petty said. “31 years old, 24 wins, one championship. Kyle Busch – 38 years old, seven years older, 63 wins, two championships. Once he [Larson] surpasses Kyle Busch, I’ll give you that he’s one of the greatest race car drivers on the face of the earth and he can do anything anytime, but Kyle Busch is still getting it done.”

Kyle Petty highly complimentary of Kyle Busch, Kyle Larson

Busch is NASCAR’s all-time winningest driver, with 230-career victories across all three national series. He is also a two-time Cup Series champion and one-time Xfinity Series champion, who has won just about every race there is to win except for the Daytona 500.

While Petty prefers Busch’s accomplishments to Larson’s, he gave him credit for the “butt whooping” at Las Vegas.

“It was a different kind of race than we saw in Atlanta,” Petty said. “And I think that’s why we look at it the way we look at it. The fantastic race, the fantastic finish that we had at Atlanta, up against a good old-fashioned butt kicking by Kyle Larson in Las Vegas. When Kyle Larson is on, like he was yesterday, he forces other teams to raise their game. And when they do, and they’re not ready for it, they make mistakes. Everyone that challenged had a miscue or had a mistake at some point in time and left the race to him because he just took the race.”