The 2024 Cup Series season went awry for a few drivers. Kyle Busch ranks atop that list, as the two-time Cup champion broke his 19-year winning streak. Coupled with a generous sprinkling of DNFs, Busch had a dismal season overall. Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty Gibbs had a fairly better season; accumulating 12 top-tens and 8 top-fives besides cracking the playoffs. However, their fortunes have reversed at the Chili Bowl.

Both are attempting the Super Bowl of Midget Racing for the very first time. However, as expected, Kyle Busch is thriving with his wealth of experience – two decades in the upper echelons of NASCAR. On the other hand, Gibbs is slipping and falling, trying to wrap his head around things.

Kyle Busch soars while Gibbs stays back

Ever since the 39th running of the Chili Bowl kicked off, a few NASCAR stars have been fantastic. Three-time CB winner Christopher Bell clinched the O’Reilly Auto Parts Invitational Race of Champions. Then, former Chili Bowl champ Kyle Larson also bagged the A-Main prelim. Kyle Busch had entered this elite group after initial hiccups – like when he finished 7th in the B-Main on Friday. However, Saturday held brighter fortune for him; he dominated the runner-up spot for the majority of the F-Main race. Then a tough turn dropped him one spot – and Busch clinched the third-place finish.

This vaulted the Richard Childress Racing driver to the E-Main. Kyle Busch will start 18th and aim for a 5th-place finish or above to advance to the D-Main. On the contrary, however, his former team’s driver – Busch moved from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR at the start of 2023 – has faltered. Ty Gibbs has faced difficulties ever since he arrived in Oklahoma.

He is juggling both learning dirt racing and fighting his way to the main event – the latter plan fell through recently. During the F-Main event, Gibbs could clinch 6th place, and that was not enough to advance. Journalist Matt Weaver updated on Twitter: “Kyle Busch advances out of F2 with a third place…Ty Gibbs gets to sixth and his day ends at F2.”

Joe Gibbs’ grandson admitted to the obstacles he is facing. It is no mean feat trying to figure out things on the feet while Chili Bowl experts beat you. Ty Gibbs said, “It’s just different. The hard part is that you don’t have that many laps. I feel like halfway through the race, I’d figure out stuff to do and learn, but then I have, like, three laps to go and I’m sliding a guy for, like, 9th.” Yet he also confessed to enjoying it: “I’m having a lot of fun. I didn’t really have any expectations on where I wanted to be. And if I could put it all together, I’d be a lot better off than I am now — but that’s just part of learning.”

Meanwhile, Kyle Busch realized where he was getting his kick from.

Learning it from the little guy

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We all heard about the waves that little Busch created recently, right? Brexton Busch was a shining star at the Tulsa Shootout, where he clinched his first Golden Driller trophy dominantly. His talents have offered a boost to his veteran Cup Series driver father as well! Kyle Busch did not have dirt racing in his mind until Brexton kicked off his career on dirt tracks like Millbridge Speedway. Busch made his SageNet Center and micro-sprint debut in 2022, competing alongside his son. Since then, he has aligned forces with his son at dirt racing events as frequently as possible.

As Kyle Busch makes a trailblazing debut at the Chili Bowl Nationals, he admitted to his son’s influence on his dirt ambition. “I guess it all just kind of came to fruition with the last two or three years running all the dirt stuff with Brexton and having my chance to run the micro stuff. I go to all these race tracks and all these races with him. When we first started, it was just junior sprints and we were kind of bored with the rest of the time that we had, so I was like, ‘I may as well get out there. I may as well drive.’ I feel like that has kind of helped us and me understand a little bit more about the adjustments that I need to give him better and his car better.”

Evidently, Kyle Busch knows exactly how to excel in the dirt racing world. Meanwhile, let us hope that this Chili Bowl will be a springboard for Ty Gibbs’ future success.