Before the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kyle Busch hadn’t missed the postseason entirely since 2012. Any outcome other than a win in Saturday’s regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, and Busch will go back-to-back seasons without making the playoffs.
Busch, who won three times in his first 15 starts with Richard Childress Racing, has gone winless since June 2023. This season has gone a lot like last season, and Busch admitted Friday that’s been frustrating for him.
“It certainly does,” Busch said, via Kelly Crandall of RACER. “We’ve had the exact year that we had last year. I just looked at the points after Watkins Glen – we have scored three points less this year than we did last year. Literally three after 24 events and everything that could happen, we’re in the same position.”
They say anyone can win on a superspeedway such as Daytona. For all of his accomplishments throughout his Hall of Fame career, Busch has just one win at the “World Center of Racing,” that coming back in 2008.
Kyle Busch came close last season at Daytona
Busch did come close in this race last season, finishing runner-up to Harrison Burton. If he finds his way to Victory Lane Saturday night, expect an epic celebration.
“[There would be] plenty of Rebel Bourbon, that’s for sure,” Busch said. “I might be worse than Brad Keselowski after a championship.”
But making the playoffs wouldn’t be enough for Busch. He wants to get in, and then make some noise over the next 10 weeks.
“If you ‘Harrison Burton’ your way into the playoffs and then you’re out in the first round, that doesn’t mean [expletive], you know what I mean?” Busch said. “A successful season is obviously making the playoffs and making it into the Round of 8. Making it from the Round of 8 to the Round of 4, there are a lot of situations that can come into play that can get you there or get you out of there.
“A successful season is being in the playoffs, winning races, and being in the final eight. Not getting to those levels last year and right now, not this year, that’s definitely frustrating.”
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