A NASCAR executive countered criticism that it was hard to pass in Monday’s Cup race at Dover and rebuked a team owner’s complaints on social media.

Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR executive vice president and chief racing development officer, responded to Kyle Busch’s criticism of the package at Dover by saying Tuesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that “these are the best drivers in the world, and it’s going to be hard to pass.”

O’Donnell had his sharpest rebuke for Bob Leavine, owner of Leavine Family Racing. Leavine stated on Twitter that he seconded Busch’s comments that “this package sucks.” Leavine also responded to questions about the racing on Twitter after the race and Tuesday morning.

Bill @Billsmi61592979 there were three or four cars that were dominant. Even they had difficulty passing. But you also heard many drivers say it took us 40 laps to pass a car that was 4 tenths slower . Cars better than us and cars not as good as us. https://t.co/kvjvGeYgcB — Bob Leavine (@BLeavine) May 7, 2019

O’Donnell told “The Morning Drive” that Levine could have voiced his displeasure another way.

“We certainly talk to everybody,” O’Donnell said. “It’s unfortunate, especially when a team owner does social media, I don’t think that’s the right way to do it at all. It’s a choice that was made. We’re available every race. We go out there and talk to every constituent we have. Jim France is at every race, which is phenomenal. The ability to say that you don’t have a chance to talk to us about your feedback is a bit questionable.”

Questions were raised throughout the weekend with speeds up at Dover because of higher downforce. Kevin Harvick tweeted during the weekend that he went 17 mph faster in the center of the corner with this package than last year.

Busch raised safety concerns Friday about the speeds. Other drivers raised questions about what the racing might be like with the faster speeds. Despite coming from the back of the field at the start to win, Martin Truex Jr. said it was “definitely really hard to pass” Monday.

Busch was again outspoken after the race, calling the race package “terrible” according to Frontstretch.com reporter Davey Segal.

Asked about Busch’s comments, O’Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio:

“I would probably start with, didn’t have the race he wanted and not surprised at what he said. What’s unfortunate, he actually tied a record (for most top-10 finishes to start a season) and the question I’m asked is about his comments postrace. His teammate was able to win and pass every car in the field, and he chose to make the comments he did.

“If you look at the package, no matter what we’ve put out there, drivers always say it’s hard to pass, and our comment back to that has always been that these are the best drivers in the world and it’s going to be hard to pass.

“I’ve brought it up before, this is one of our most challenging tracks. Typically we see some challenges in passing at Dover. Talked about the last stage, I think we would have liked to have seen a little bit closer racing certainly in the last stage but also don’t want to take anything away from Truex and what his team was able to do.

“It’s important to remind everyone that when we talk about his package, it wasn’t done in a vacuum. The entire industry said we wanted a consistent package for every racetrack. Dover we knew going in was going to be a challenging track. All in all, I think the first two stages presented some really good races. I would choose to go back and look … you always ask me how the overall season been, we’ve seen some really good racing, we’ve seen some stats that are up from passing, green-flag passes for the lead are up 46 percent. That’s an important stat for the industry, and that’s one we’re going to continue to focus on, and we’re going to go to Kansas and focus on putting on good races. That’s how I would address Kyle.”

Asked how NASCAR balances criticism of the racing package, O’Donnell said:

“Our job is to balance all that input and then make a decision on what we think will put on the best race, the most competitive race that will allow as many as cars to win as possible, but we still want the best cars and best drivers to win. Anytime you see it’s challenging to pass, that’s something we look at. We said we would do that. … When you look at the body of the work so far this year, it’s hard to say the racing has not been better than last year. I think it has been. What I go back to are the facts and the facts prove it out.”