NASCAR Preview: Can Kyle Busch Overcome Gateway’s Peculiar Challenges & Log His First NASCAR Win of the Season This Sunday?

Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch heads into this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway without a victory to his name this season. The upcoming Enjoy Illinois 300 will see the #8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 driver try his luck on Sunday as the regular season draws closer to its postseason playoffs culmination.

Despite dismal performances during the past few weeks, Busch’s chances this time around might see a shift taking into consideration his previous performances at the 1.250-mile-long track. The 39-year-old driver has finished first and second over the sport’s past two visits to what was earlier known as Gateway Motorsports Park.

Busch previewed the unique challenge the track poses and said, “I feel like the racetrack lends itself to a different challenge than what we’re accustomed to. A lot of times you run these racetracks and both ends of the track are very similar. You have to drive WWT Raceway differently.”

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He further elaborated on what these traits mean for a driver out on the track and said, “It’s also unique because it’s not quite a short track but it’s not quite a superspeedway. It’s egg-shaped and drives like a short track. There’s a big, heavy braking moment getting into Turn 1, a really tight corner in 1 and 2, and then a long, sweeping, and much faster corner in 3 and 4.”

As frustrations inside the team grow, WWT Raceway might be the turning point the #8 crew at RCR as well as Kyle Busch need to use to reignite their playoff hopes.

Kyle Busch speaks on previous success at WWT Raceway

Speaking further Busch spoke about how he and the #8 crew have performed at World Wide Technology Raceway in the past. Having logged a P1 and P2 finish at the track over NASCAR’s past two visits to the venue, Busch and RCR certainly have been able to find the correct adjustments and driving techniques to suit this Sunday’s venue.

The former Joe Gibbs Racing driver elaborated on the same and said, “The last couple of years there have been great. Last year we started up front and we were able to make the most of that and score the win. I hope we can go there with the same speed that we had last year and we can go after a win again. WWT Raceway is the home track for my crew chief, Randall Burnett, so it was really cool to have a special weekend for him last year and to be able to score that win.”

The Enjoy Illinois 300 at WWT Raceway is scheduled to go live this Sunday at 3:30 pm ET. It will be interesting to see if Busch can return to victory lane.