Kyle Busch hopes his 68-race winless streak — the longest of his NASCAR Cup career — ends once and for all at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. The odds may be in Busch’s favor.
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Busch is a two-time Cup winner at the 1.5-mile oval in America’s heartland. But the Richard Childress Racing driver can’t help but wonder if he has a black cloud following him.
The #8 driver spoke on Saturday about how misfortune almost always seems to end his hopes of reaching the Cup victory lane. Busch, who turned 40 on May 2, had that chance last Sunday at Texas and, once again, finished 20th.
This was the fifth time in 11 races that he’s finished 20th or worse. Needless to say, Busch was pretty disappointed with the result.
“Just totally bummed [about Texas]. We worked all day and fought hard to get ourselves back up into position to have a shot to be able to go race for it,” Busch told Frontstretch.com.
“We restarted third, we were running third. It was like, ‘Ok, this is your moment, this is where you shine, this is where you get paid the big bucks. Go get it.’ And then, literally, two laps later, I crashed,” he added.
In fact, Busch endured a similar predicament last year at the Kansas Speedway. “The same thing happened here last year. You put yourself in those positions, you live for those moments of being able to go get it and get a win and boom, we’re in the wall, we’re crashed,” he said.
It’s frustrating enough that Busch keeps coming up short despite giving it his all. However, there is no single specific cause to identify and fix. That must be making it feel even worse.
“I don’t know why or what. But I’ve been rewarded 230-plus times for being able to go get it and go get the win when it comes down to it. And now it seems like I get penalized for trying,” explained Busch.
Fans have been hoping for too long to see the ‘Wild Thing’ reach Victory Lane. For now, they can only take solace in knowing it’s not for lack of effort — Busch is clearly still pushing, still trying, and still believing.
