Kyle Busch has been entangled with the saga of continued crashes. He crashed at Gateway with Kyle Larson, and then at a tire test in Indianapolis, becoming the talk of the town. He has been struggling to keep himself and his car on track. And to make matters worse is, he hasn’t won even a single race this season. Hence the two-time champion has yet to make it to the playoffs! He is on a 37-race winless streak, the longest of his cup career. And given that he has been in the game for two long decades, this is rather unfortunate.

At Sonoma though, everything was going smooth as butter as he avoided any potential crashes. However, as fate would have it, someone else crashed into him instead! Talk about a beat-up luck. While he wouldn’t have won most probably, he was in contention to make it to the top-5. But Ross Chastain just ruined the day for him further!

Right now, things aren’t looking good for Rowdy. He is close to hitting his 40s, has not made it to the playoffs, and now has fans lashing out at him. His career trajectory, at the moment, is extremely similar to a champion whose racing career didn’t end on a sweet note. Kevin Harvick talked about this unlucky streak Kyle Busch is having in his podcast. 

Kevin Harvick defends two-time champion Kyle Busch

It was looking like a great race for Kyle Busch at Sonoma, or so he thought. And he was battling it out with Ross Chastain for the fifth position. But lo-and-behold, as they both entered the turn, Busch was hit! Busch’s Chevrolet went off track and he managed to finish rather fine on the 12th! On the other hand, Chastain finished 5th. 

Talking about this, Kevin Harvick in the podcast Happy Hour, mentioned how sorry he was for Busch. He said, “Now I’m to the point where I’m starting to feel sorry for Kyle Busch because of everything that is happening. He wrecked last week with Kyle Larson in St. Louis, went to Indy for the tire test, and crashed, and heard some rumblings that he crashed his rental car. And we go there [Sonoma], he ran off the track in practice, then he ran off the track at the beginning of the race and then gathers it all up, he’s driving along, gonna have a good day, finally gonna get over this and wham. Ross Chastain wipes him out. Overshoots Turn 4 and wipes him out.”

After the race, Busch was extremely displeased, and rightly so. He was on his way to show that he’s still got it and his chance was robbed from him. He said, “It’s frustrating to not get the finish that we deserved.”

Kevin Harvick says that Busch just wants to win because he is a winner, and is trying a little extra hard. This is why several mistakes and spin-outs and the different things can be seen frequently. And while it might look like a “rookie mistake” to some, it’s only Busch trying to get the best out of the car. Harvick further said, “He still finished the race, but he was in contention to have another top five and, and kind of stopped the bleeding. But man, that wound is still open.”

And given that the internet keyboard warriors are rubbing salt with comments like, “How does he even have sponsorship left?” or “You owe us fans an explanation ASAP,” it isn’t helping Busch. Plus his career trajectory looks eerily similar to a certain 7-time world champion.

Is Kyle Busch walking in the footsteps of Jimmie Johnson?

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For Kyle Busch, this season is more than just a disappointment–it is a disaster. When he won three races in 2023, fans expected big things out of him this time. But he is failing to meet their expectations. His career trajectory has fallen to a poor graph! But there is something really interesting about his previous and current seasons—they look eerily similar to that of Jimmie Johnson’s latter years.

Johnson won his seventh championship in 2016 and after this, his entire career graph went for a toss. He then won three races in the next year, made it to the round of 12 in playoffs, and then finished 10th. Similarly, in 2023, Busch won thrice and made the round of 12 but he finished 14th, even worse than JJ! Then in 2018, Johnson did make it into the playoffs but was eliminated in the round of 16. Busch’s 2024 season almost mirrors Jimmie Johnson’s struggles in 2018.  And Busch, despite being a top driver, isn’t making the cut. Just like Johnson had that lack of speed and doubts on his ability then, Busch also seems to be right there.

And 2018 was the last year Johnson made it to the playoffs because he missed out in 2019 and 2020. And finally, in 2020 he retired. While Kyle Busch hasn’t reached the tipping point and has shown his potential here and there like the Sonoma race, he still faces a decline. And it’s crucial to remember that he is 39 years old, and age can not be reversed. Well, only time can tell if he will mirror Johnson till the end. What do you think? Is he on his way to mirror Johnson’s end-of-career path?