Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch finds himself in a position he has never been in during his storied NASCAR career. The 2-time Cup Series champion is struggling to make the postseason playoffs this season with no victories to his name.
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Coming off a DNF during last Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway, Busch sits outside the playoffs bubble in P17 on the driver’s standings table. Fellow driver and Xfinity Series regular Parker Kligerman recently spoke on how the Las Vegas, Nevada native can improve his chances of going forward with the current performance RCR has to offer.
He elaborated on how consistent top 10 appearances can build a foundation for Busch in the upcoming 11 races and said, “When you don’t have speed you’ve got to just grind out finishes, getting stage points. Having days like they did at Gateway go away, you just can’t do that.”
Kligerman added to his argument by stating Busch’s previous affiliation with Joe Gibbs Racing, a team that enabled him to achieve his two championships. He said, “Kyle Busch has obviously not been in this position much in his career where he’s got to just find a way to grind out those finishes. He’s a guy that you just give him a car that can get to the top 5, he can propel it into a win that would just lock him in.”
It remains to be seen whether Kyle Busch changes his race-day strategy to focusing on stage points or keeps gunning for his first victory of the year.
Why did Kyle Busch DNF during last weekend’s NASCAR race at Gateway?
The 2024 Enjoy Illinois 300 saw the #8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver come together with Kyle Larson on the track as the HMS driver went into turn 1, washed wide into Busch’s door taking both cars into the outside wall. While Larson was able to continue his race and finish inside the top 10, Busch suffered enough damage to relegate him to the sidelines.
The RCR driver spoke about his contact with Larson in a post-race interview and said, “Looked like he got loose. He was on older tires trying to get us for a spot. Not sure what that single point was going to mean for him but certainly hurt us a lot.”
With eleven races to go before the 2024 postseason playoffs kick-off, there needs to be a shift in focus on the #8 crew’s part to challenge for stage points as much as possible to ensure a points bank built for Busch going forward.
