Kyle Busch carries an 82-race winless streak stretching back to 2023, the longest drought of his Cup career. He now heads to Daytona sitting 19th in the playoff standings, 148 points below the cutline, leaving him only one path into the postseason: win the race.
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The year has been rough, and with only one more shot at the playoffs, Busch’s track record at Daytona pales compared to his success at Richmond, where he finished P16 last weekend. Yet, with Richard Childress Racing behind him, Daytona could prove the last lifeline to salvage his season.
Still, Busch remains unbothered by the stakes. Asked in a recent media session if the looming elimination adds pressure, he replied, “I don’t think so, no. We just know time is running out, but I don’t think the pressure is any greater. It’s just a matter of being able to get it done and right now is the best time, you know, so you can go try to prepare for a championship.”
On whether Daytona being the regular-season finale raises his stress, Busch added, “No, I’m not stressed out over it. I think that we go to each and every single weekend with the mindset to try to go out there and win, and we haven’t put ourselves in that position to be able to score a victory. So, we need to. But I wouldn’t say that this weekend puts any added pressure on that.”
Busch has logged 40 career Cup starts at Daytona, posting one win on the track, nine top-fives, 13 top-10s, and an 18.5 average finish on the oval. Although he finished second in last year’s summer race and seventh the year before, Busch has struggled mightily at the 2.5-mile superspeedway in recent years.
In his last 11 Daytona starts, he has recorded six DNFs, five from crashes and one from an engine failure, including a wreck-induced 34th-place finish in February’s season-opening Daytona 500. Once a fixture in victory lane, Busch has lately found few chances to break through.
His closest call in 2025 came at Circuit of the Americas in March, where he led 42 of 95 laps before Christopher Bell snatched the lead with five laps to go, leaving Busch to fade to fifth. His only other top-five this year came with another fifth at the Chicago street course. More telling, outside of COTA, he has led just 20 laps all season.
Meanwhile, his teammate Austin Dillon, already playoff-bound, has pledged support to help Busch in the regular-season finale. Fans, who have waited two long years for Busch to return to victory lane, now look to Daytona as the stage where he might silence the doubters and reclaim his winning touch.
