Monday’s rained-delayed GanderRV 400 at Dover International Speedway proved to be a breaking point as it pertained to drivers and team owners keeping quiet about the new Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition package.

A handful of contenders expressed heavy-handed criticism following 400 laps at the Monster Mile.

The fiercest remarks came from championship leader Kyle Busch, who was in no mood to celebrate his 11th consecutive top 10 to open the season, even if it followed an afternoon in which he had to rally from slapping the wall in the middle stages of the event.

"It sucked," he said. "You know, we thought we were off as a program, but obviously (Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr.) won the race. So, that’s not the case. Probably we were going to end up about eighth and then I got into the wall in the last stage and we were junk after that. On a (scale) 1 out of 10, that hit was probably an 8."

Already one of the few vocal public critics of the package, Busch would probably rate the current version of the Cup Series formula on the lower end of the 1-10 scale.

"The package sucked," he said. "No f***ing question about it. It’s terrible. But all I can do is bitch about it, and it will fall on deaf ears and we’ll come back here with the same thing in the fall."

The eye test and statistics were once again at odds with one other following the race.

The finish to the first stage was aided by a late caution and diverging tire strategies, with Joey Logano earning a playoff point on two less fresh tires by virtue of clean air, over a dominant Chase Elliott who took four tires after leading every lap to that point.

The race inarguably had a thrilling second stage finish, with the leaders in heavy lapped traffic, allowing Martin Truex, Alex Bowman and Kevin Harvick to supplant Elliott.

And then, the third stage was a dud, with Truex winning by 9.5 seconds. It's something Harvick also blamed on the package.

"Last run we got tight and it turned into a parade. No one was going anywhere," he said on the Motor Racing Network postrace show.

Overall, the race featured the second most green flag passes and the third most quality passes in the last six seasons. But much of those numbers are inflated by green flag pit stops and restarts in which drivers stay side by side, triggering a "pass" every time a nose inches in front of another.

Harvick added more during his pit road media availability too.

"Here's the hard thing about the package," Harvick said. "I think that NASCAR's tried to accomplish a lot of things with one particular package, but you look at how the cars drive behind each other, and from a driver's standpoint, it's hard to race them. Anywhere."

A constant refrain from drivers is a complaint about the 8-inch tall spoiler that creates a wake of dirty air when a leading car turns in the corner. A trailing car runs into that wake and stalls out, stifling passing opportunities.

Last year's package generated roughly 1,500 pounds of downforce. The new package doubles that, punching a much larger hole in the air as a result. If last year's car lost 25 percent of its downforce behind another car, that's 375 pounds. This season, with a much larger wake, a trailing car is losing what teams estimate as 30 percent of its overall downforce and 900 pounds. That has made clean air more important than ever before.

"It might have just been me, but it was hard to pass anyone on the bottom and really defend significantly on the bottom," Alex Bowman said. "I don’t think I passed many guys on the bottom all day, if we were both running bottom/bottom. If they ran up a car length, I could get enough air that I could. But the only passes I made really all day were on top."

Erik Jones concurred.

"It seemed like the bottom groove was preferred by a lot, and it was tough to get up and make a move in the middle," he said. "It was hard to get some speed rolling there, especially if you had someone behind you. It felt like they would kind of snooker you and put you back another spot. It was just tough to make moves and it was tough to be aggressive and find a way to pass. Just tough all day."

Even a team owner offered a criticism, with Leavine Family Racing boss Bob Leavine tweeting two key rebuttals to NASCAR’s current direction:

"Let me second @KyleBusch statement, this package sucks. Has nothing to do with where he finished."

And then ...

"NASCAR officials do not think it appropriate that a team owner speak out criticizing their package on social media so I’m not making any more comments about it. They may be right."

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