A forecast was made by some of the best drivers in NASCAR after the 2008 season. They believed that Kyle Busch’s NASCAR Cup Series campaign, with eight victories in the regular season that year, would be forgotten in time as an inconsequential record. In 2025, that has largely proven to be true. Here’s a short trip to the past to understand the root of this dried-out tree.
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Busch signed with Joe Gibbs Racing after finishing the 2007 season in fifth place with Hendrick Motorsports. He quickly got up to speed in the #18 car and began collecting wins regularly. At the end of the first 26 races, he had reached victory lane eight times. He also secured 15 top-5s and 17 top-10s with an average finish rate of 9.9 back then.
On this day in 2008, Kyle Busch won at Dover! pic.twitter.com/l8pn682Cx5
— Nascarpixtures (@Nascarpixtures) June 1, 2021
It was obvious that he would be a strong contender for the title. Stock car racing emphasizes the timing of performances as much as any other major sport. And so, it sent fate knocking on Busch’s door when the Chase began. The 23-year-old stumbled through the final 10 races to ultimately finish 10th in the standings.
He had zero wins, two top-5s, four top-10s, and an average finish of 19.1 in the Chase. What caused this downfall was not a lack of skill but several issues that came courtesy of the car. In New Hampshire, it was a parts failure, in Dover, it was an engine failure, and in Kansas, it was a mechanical failure.
Why Busch hated calling his 2008 season a “collapse”
His fellow drivers could look at him with nothing but sympathy when the dust settled. Many, including Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon, acknowledged the magnitude of his achievement and praised him for it. But Richard ‘The King’ Petty had the most realistic take.
He said, “If you don’t win a championship, it’ll get lost in the shuffle. It’s like everything else. You’ve got to finish the job you started, and he’s not been able to finish.” There was no better critic for his team than Busch himself. However, he did not like the idea of calling the campaign a “collapse” since doing so meant putting a large part of the blame on him.
It’s wild to me that Kyle Busch had an insane 2008 regular season, only to have the worst translation in to the Chase.
Regular Season: 8 Wins, 15 Top 5’s, 17 Top 10’s, 9.9 avg. finish, 1600+ laps led.
Chase: 0 Wins, 2 Top 5’s, 4 Top 10’s, 19.1 avg. finish, 40 laps led.
— Keith Marek | #di9 #JJ84 (@KeithMarek) January 5, 2025
“It’s just unfortunate,” he said. “‘Collapse’ isn’t quite the word. We’ve had a great year, and unfortunately, some circumstances took us out of the running here in the Chase and nothing to anybody’s doing.” He added that he understood how things would be remembered and that it didn’t bother him.
Nearly two decades have passed since. Those eight wins do nothing more than add to his all-time wins tally (63). However, they do continue to be remembered on the other side of the fence as a part of one of the biggest bottlings in NASCAR history.
