Kyle Busch’s incredible winning streak has a limited amount of time left to extend it to 20 consecutive NASCAR seasons with at least one victory.
Talladega, Alabama Kyle Busch’s incredible winning streak has a limited amount of time left to extend it to 20 consecutive NASCAR seasons with at least one victory.
With just six races left in the season, Busch will be visiting Talladega Superspeedway, the site of two of his career victories. Since his first season in 2005, he has won 63 Cup Series and two titles, winning nearly everything.
However, due to sponsorship problems, he was forced to leave Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2022 season, and his transfer to Richard Childress Racing resulted in the longest losing run of his career. In his second race with RCR the previous year, Busch finished first with three wins and qualified for the playoffs.
However, he last won in June 2023 at Gateway outside of St. Louis, and as of Sunday, he has lost 51 races in a row, which is a career-worst. He didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and now he is just aiming to keep his season winning streak intact.
He’s finished second twice already this year and missed three close calls at the beginning of the season in a three-wide battle to the finish line by a tiny 0.007 seconds. But the future Hall of Famer was astonished by how far things have gone after finishing 19th in Kansas last week, where he led 26 laps after starting third.
Busch has the record for the most wins in a NASCAR season with 19 years in a row, and he has 231 victories in all three national series. His hopes of winning at Kansas were dashed when he spun while trying to pass a car that was being lapped.
On Kansas’ pit road, Busch remarked, “I’m numb.” “I’m at a loss for what to do.”
Busch has only managed 11 top-five finishes since his last victory, and in the seven weeks since RCR’s steep fall this season, Busch recorded five DNFs. Busch has had his chances. In August, he fell to Chase Briscoe at Darlington Raceway by 0.361 seconds after finishing second to Harrison Burton at Daytona by 0.047 seconds.
Burton and Briscoe secured the remaining two playoff berths and eliminated Busch from the running for the championship with their two victories.
Richard Childress recruited Busch following Tyler Reddick’s surprise signing with 23XI Racing a full year ahead of his contract expiring. Childress had every intention of retaining Reddick in the No. 8 Chevrolet through 2023, but with Busch unable to put together a deal to continue with Gibbs and available, Childress released Reddick early and snatched Busch at a discounted rate.
Reddick thought that Busch — the closest driver in mentality to the late Dale Earnhardt — would be a wonderful fit with Earnhardt’s previous team owner.
“From a competitive standpoint, I wouldn’t have predicted the difficulties ahead,” Reddick, who won the NASCAR regular-season championship with 23XI, said. “I do recall that we weren’t always successful at RCR. We had trouble with several tracks, and we had work to do on those difficult tracks.
Reddick went on, “But it appears like they’ve been having trouble most of the time, which is not what you would expect from that group or from Kyle Busch.” Simply put, Kyle Busch hasn’t had much luck this year. It’s been absolutely weird to watch it unfold.”
Busch admitted earlier this year that he has struggled to get used to the Next Gen car and find the speed he needs and the inside comfort he need because of NASCAR’s reduction in practice time.
The Next Gen undoubtedly has added parity to the 40-car Cup field, and it’s been more than a year since a driver has registered back-to-back wins, done last August by Chris Buescher at Richmond and Michigan.
Reddick thinks that Busch has been hindered by attempting to understand the car every weekend with little on-track practice time.
Reddick remarked, “I wouldn’t say he doesn’t have it figured out; I think he knows what he’s doing.” “He understands what he wants from his vehicle. Simply put, this Next Gen racing is very different from what it was when I entered it with the prior vehicle. Furthermore, not much is needed to move a car that has the potential to win to fifteenth place.
“Getting back up there in a car with good handling is not as easy as it once was. The spread between the first and the twentieth is incredibly narrow. It is a harsh sport since everyone is so close to one another. Errors cannot occur in you. A horrible situation cannot be thrust upon you. It’s challenging to conclude these races.
Beginning on Sunday, Busch will have six more opportunities to extend his run.
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