Can Kyle Busch Finally Clear His ‘Last Checkbox’ and Win the Daytona 500?

2-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has earned several accolades in his NASCAR career. However, there is one particular trophy that is missing from his cabinet, the Daytona 500. In the last 17 years, Busch has never won the iconic season-opening race. Now, in two weeks’ time, he will have another chance to finally add that piece of silverware to his cabinet.

It isn’t for the lack of trying though, as he has come close on several occasions. Recently he said, “I mean its a clean slate all over, you want to win obviously. I’ve yet to win that race, so that’s kind of the biggest thing, that last checkbox on my radar. That would be nice, and to do it in the Next Gen car would be fantastic in the first speedway race with it.”

Busch also admitted that he has no idea of what to expect. This is largely because he has not participated in any speedway tests in the cars.

What else did Kyle Busch say?

He continued, “I think the other thing with this car is, its going to react very similar in the draft. You’re going to need majority of cars to go faster than fewer cars. So, whichever line has more power in it, is going to be the faster line. I anticipate there being two-wide action. Don’t know how slippery the cars felt while in the draft. Especially the buffering effect that you get, as well as the straight-away looseness that you get when the cars aren’t loaded.”

All in all, there are a lot of unknowns for the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Owing to that, he will have to make the most of all the available track time he can get in practice. Fortunately, he has shown a pretty impressive early pace, with his pole position at the LA Coliseum last weekend. Without a doubt, Kyle Busch will be eager to earn more poles and finally break the Daytona jinx.

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