With only nine races left in the 2024 Cup Series regular season, Kyle Busch desperately needs a victory. This comes after the Richard Childress Racing driver ended with a P35 finish at Iowa Speedway last weekend. While qualifying for the playoffs remains a big concern, Rowdy remains calm with his approach.
In his second season at RCR, Busch has struggled to make it count on the track. Currently, without a win and two DNFs, he stands P18 as far as the playoff picture is concerned. While he lies 31 points behind the last playoff spot, the RCR driver denies any negativity in his approach.
Kyle Busch looks to make the most out of the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
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It is safe to say that things didn’t go well for Kyle Busch at Iowa Speedway. With him dearly needing a top-10 finish, Busch crashed out of the race after a hit into the wall on Lap 269. It is worth noting that he was running P10 before the incident and things could have ended well had the wreck not taken place.
Busch looked disappointed after the race, for obvious reasons. As reported by NASCAR.com, he said, “Not what we wanted for all of our No. 8 Zone Chevy guys; everybody from Kwik Star. We were having a pretty decent day. I thought we had a top-10 run going. We had an opportunity there to score some points, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
While it was unfortunate, it didn’t help Kyle Busch’s cause one bit. Now, he remains 38 races without a win, the longest winless streak in his Cup Series career. Not just that, Busch faces the risk of not registering a win in the regular season for the first time since 2004.
The longest winless streak in Kyle Busch’s career continues.
He took his car to the garage. He’s below the cut line with less than 10 races remaining before the playoffs. pic.twitter.com/B8U64fnDba
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) June 17, 2024
That said, this isn’t the first time that Rowdy has struggled with a winless run. He has gone without a win in 36 races from 2016 to 2017, 35 races without a win from 2014 to 2015, 34 race winless from 2007 to 2008, and 20 race winless in 2020. While he has come out with flying colors after those struggling phases, there’s no reason why he cannot do it this time around.
Speaking before the race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch remained calm with his current situation. As he spoke to the media, he said, “Been working hard and doing the best we can with what we have got. It’s a tough business we are part of. We are in a performance-based business and you know to be able to go out and get the performance that we need is a hard thing to do. There are a hundred, thousand things that need to go your way to achieve success.”
Kyle Busch said he is focused on better finishes rather than being on the playoff bubble. pic.twitter.com/kzTzv1K4R8
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 23, 2024
While he lies 31 points behind the playoff line, Busch plans to take it one race at a time. He said, “I don’t think about the pressure about the bubble and try to go out there and perform on Sunday. I just try to go out there and push myself and the car and everything as hard as I can to get the most out of myself and it to get the best possible finish we can get.”
Certainly, Kyle Busch opts to take a positive approach. That said, is New Hampshire the track where he could turn his fortunes around?
Kyle Busch faces a tricky task at New Hampshire Motor Speedway despite a decent record
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With his current setup at Richard Childress Racing, Kyle Busch has found it difficult to bring consistency to his racing. However, it could all be a race away. While his fans would hope that race is the next one at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, it’s a bit complicated.
To date, Busch has tasted victory three times at the 1.058-mile track. With 11 top-five and 16 top-1o finishes in 32 races, Rowdy surely has impressed in North Loudon. Unfortunately, ever since the introduction of the Next-Gen car, his record at the track hasn’t been up to the mark.
As he spoke with the media ahead of the race, Busch described what has gone wrong in recent times. As reported by speedwaydigest.com, he said, “It’s been easy for me to get in trouble because of the nature of the car, the way it rides, the bumps and the different topography of the track at each end to make grip.”
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Kyle Busch at New Hampshire in recent races …
2023 = 36th. Started in the back, crashed on lap 70 when in 27th.
2022 = 12th. Spun twice.
2021 = 37th. Started on the pole, crashed while leading when it rained.
2020 = 38th. Flat tire and pounded the wall hard on lap 16 while…
— Ryan (@ifantasyrace) June 18, 2024
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Further, the two-time Cup Series champion added, “It’s definitely a challenge of moving your line around in the corners to improve the balance of the car because this new car doesn’t like different angles and transitions very well.” While the struggle is there, Busch knows what it takes to win at NHMS.
With his last win coming at the track in 2017, the #8 driver will be looking to capitalize on Sunday. While there’s no doubting Busch’s talent, it remains to be seen when he’s able to break his winless run this season.