TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — Time is running out for Kyle Busch to extend his remarkable winning streak to 20 consecutive NASCAR seasons with at least one victory.
Only six races remain in the year as Busch heads to Talladega Superspeedway, where he has won twice in his career. He has won just about everywhere since his 2005 rookie season, collecting 63 Cup Series victories and two championships.
But he lost his seat at Joe Gibbs Racing after the 2022 season due to sponsorship issues and his move to Richard Childress Racing led to the longest losing streak of his career. Busch won in his second race with RCR last year, when he notched three wins and reached the playoffs.
His last victory, however, came at Gateway outside St. Louis in June 2023 and his losing streak matches a career-worst 51 races before Sunday. He didn’t qualify for the playoffs, and now he’s just trying to keep his winning streak intact.
He has finished second twice this year and lost a three-way race to the finish line by just 0.007 seconds early in the season in a trio of near misses. But it was his 19th-place finish last week at Kansas, where he started third and led 26 laps, that left the future Hall of Famer. shocked at how bad things have fallen.
Busch’s 19 consecutive years with at least one victory is a NASCAR record, and in the three national series he has 231 victories. He thought a victory was within his reach at Kansas until he spun while passing a lagging car to end his chance at victory.
“I’m numb,” Busch said on pit road at Kansas. “I don’t know what to do.”
Since his last victory, Busch has only finished in the top five 11 times, and with RCR suffering a steep decline this season, Busch has collected five retirements in seven weeks. He had his chances: Busch finished second to Harrison Burton by 0.047 seconds at Daytona in August, then lost the following week to Chase Briscoe at Darlington Raceway by 0.361 seconds.
With those two wins, Burton and Briscoe clinched the final two playoff spots and kept Busch out of the championship race.
Busch was hired by Richard Childress after Tyler Reddick shocked the organization by signing with 23XI Racing a full year before his contract expired. Childress had every intention of keeping Reddick in the No. 8 Chevrolet through 2023, but with Busch unable to make a deal to stay with Gibbs and available, Childress released Reddick early and acquired Busch at a discounted rate.
Reddick thought Busch – the driver closest to the late Dale Earnhardt – would be a great fit for Earnhardt’s former team owner.
“I think in terms of racing, I wouldn’t have seen the difficulties coming,” said Reddick, who won the NASCAR regular-season title with 23XI. “I remember at times we were hit or miss (at RCR). There were tracks we struggled on, there was work to be done on tracks where we struggled.
“But it seems like they struggled most of the time, which is not what you would expect from this group or from Kyle Busch,” Reddick continued. “It’s just that nothing has happened like Kyle Busch this year. It was really crazy to watch this unfold.
Busch acknowledged earlier this year that NASCAR’s reduced practice time had hurt his ability to adapt to the Next Gen car and find the speed he was looking for and the comfortable feel he needed at the interior of the car.
Next Gen has certainly brought parity to the 40-car Cup field, and it’s been over a year since a driver scored back-to-back wins, achieved last August by Chris Buescher at Richmond and Michigan .
Reddick also believes that trying to learn the car with limited track practice time each weekend has stymied Busch.
“I wouldn’t say he doesn’t get it, I think he knows what he’s doing,” Reddick said. “He knows what he wants his car to do. This Next Gen race is just a little different than it was when I got there with the previous car. And it really doesn’t take much to take a car that could win.” to run 15th.
“It’s not like before, where you could get up there with a very maneuverable car. The gap from first to 20th… is really very tight. Everyone is really close in a lot of ways and it’s an unforgiving sport in that regard. You can’t make mistakes. You can’t find yourself in a bad situation. It is difficult to close these races.
Busch has six more chances starting Sunday to keep his streak intact.
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