One stellar driver in the NASCAR Cup garage is undergoing the worst slump of his career. Kyle Busch once used to pick up victories like berries in a garden. But presently, the Richard Childress Racing driver just ran his 42nd race without scraping Victory Lane. Some other statistics are particularly concerning as well, but the veteran is still pulling through his difficulties.

And that impressed Dale Earnhardt Jr., who shaved off blame from Busch for his continuous misery. The retired Hall of Famer holds faith in Kyle Busch, believing his resilience stands out among his peers.

Kyle Busch draws support from a former rival

Kyle Busch has 5 DNFs so far. Additionally, other drivers happened to get in his way and wreck him, like Noah Gragson in New Hampshire, Kyle Larson in Nashville, and most recently, Corey LaJoie in Pocono. The latest incident saw LaJoie clipping Busch’s rear and sending him spinning into other cars. While LaJoie denied any blame on his part, Busch, unlike himself, adopted a neutral stance, giving up too much thought about it.

This numbed-out stance reflects his dire position: Kyle Busch is currently over 100 points below the playoff cutline. Yet Dale Earnhardt Jr., Busch’s former rival who replaced him at Hendrick Motorsports in 2007, believes “he’s not Kyle Busch.”

Junior laid faith in Busch as he spoke on the July 16 episode of Dale Jr. Download: “I don’t believe he is at fault because he’s not plugged in, not available, not accountable. We know he is talented, and we know he can drive. I also believe that he is likely doing all of the things off the track, that drivers are responsible for. And maybe even more, trying to figure out how they can get some momentum.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. further drew parallels, showing how others would have succumbed to the incredible pressure in Kyle Busch’s situation. “A lot of times when a driver gets in this situation, they disappear, they go off and hide…they go to a comfortable place. They distance themselves and it creates a bigger problem.”

He added that facing one’s racing team at that point becomes the hardest thing to do. “When you run like s**t, it is freaking hard to go into that shop. You’re embarrassed, you’re ashamed, you don’t know whether the team is believing in you or they have lost belief.”  Yet Kyle Busch is handling these tough challenges like a pro, as Dale Jr. pointed out. “I believe he is very confident in himself and he is still engaged, and plugged in.” But he added that the grind is grueling: “It’s unfortunate, but the pressure is on RCR.”

And this pressure is mounting even more due to social expectations. Kyle Busch is under the spotlight every week, and this may be another reason for his staggering progress.

The attention can be overwhelming

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Kyle Busch occupies a place in the uppermost echelons of NASCAR racers. He is the winningest driver in the entire sport, holding 231 victories in all three NASCAR national series (63 wins in tier 1, 102 wins in tier 2 and 66 wins in tier 3 respectively). Hence, the spotlight on him is bound to be blindingly bright. But this may be the reason for Busch’s spiraling misery.

The media trumpets his failure every week as breaking news, mounting the pressure on the veteran driver to perform better every weekend. So in addition to overcoming his career challenges, Kyle Busch has the added task of keeping his head straight as the press hounds him about his winless streak.

Dale Jr. aptly pointed this out in an earlier podcast episode, saying, “The media is going to pick up, and they’re already starting to pick up on, ‘Hey man, we’ve got nine races to go, can he do it? Eight races to go, seven races to go, six races to go.’ And these things are not things Kyle Busch loves to be in the middle of. Every week, they’re probably going to be trying to ping him in the media a little bit about, ‘How’s he feeling this week? And what do you think about this week?’ And he is going to have a hard time keeping his comments clean so there’s no collateral damage.”

Evidently, Kyle Busch has a lot on his plate in his struggle for glory. His journey back to Victory Lane is long and harsh, but Busch is facing the hurdles expertly, as Dale Jr. observed. We hope he can fulfill his rebound wishes very soon.