“It Seems Like I Get Penalized for Trying”: Kyle Busch’s Frustrations Are Evident as Perennial Winless Streak Continues

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.

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.

Post Edited By: Leslie Xavier

Kansas Speedway Kyle Busch

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Jerry Bonkowski

Jerry Bonkowski is a veteran sportswriter who has worked full-time for many of the top media outlets in the world, including USA Today (15 years), ESPN.com (4+ years), Yahoo Sports (4 1/2 years), NBCSports.com (8 years) and others. He has covered virtually every major professional and collegiate sport there is, including the Chicago Bulls' six NBA championships (including heavy focus on Michael Jordan), the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX-winning season, the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs World Series championships, two of the Chicago Blackhawks' NHL titles, Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut, as well as many years of beat coverage of the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA for USA Today. But Jerry's most notable achievement has been covering motorsports, most notably NASCAR, IndyCar, NHRA drag racing and Formula One. He has had a passion for racing since he started going to watch drag races at the old U.S. 30 Dragstrip (otherwise known as "Where the Great Ones Run!") in Hobart, Indiana. Jerry has covered countless NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA races and championship battles over the years. He's also the author of a book, "Trading Paint: 101 Great NASCAR Debates", published in 2010 (and he's hoping to soon get started on another book). Away from sports, Jerry was a fully sworn part-time police officer for 20 years, enjoys reading and music (especially "hair bands" from the 1980s and 1990s), as well as playing music on his electric keyboard, driving (fast, of course!), spending time with Cyndee his wife of nearly 40 years, the couple's three adult children and three grandchildren (with more to come!), and his three dogs -- including two German Shepherds and an Olde English Bulldog who thinks he's a German Shepherd.. Jerry still gets the same excitement of seeing his byline today as he did when he started in journalism as a 15-year-old high school student. He is looking forward to writing hundreds, if not thousands, of stories in the future for TheSportsRush.com, as well as interacting with readers.

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