September 13, 2019 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Busch needs to regain momentum entering the Playoffs

Kyle Busch says the path to winning the NASCAR Cup is all about “What have you done for me lately?”

Despite winning the regular-season championship, there’s something missing from Busch’s arsenal of late—winning.

Certainly, the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has all the tools to win a second title: an elite racer behind the wheel, a championship crew chief and one of the top pit crews in the sport. 

But now is the time to stoke the fire before the embers flame out.

“There have been some different circumstances that have kind of kept us out of Victory Lane,” Busch said. “We probably could have, should have won Darlington, if we would have been able to come off pit road the last two times, first. We came off third and couldn’t pass anybody. You’re at Indy and you come off pit road fourth and you ride fourth for the entire fuel run until you come back down pit road. I didn’t see (Kevin) Harvick pass a guy for the lead there. 

“It’s going to be difficult. I don’t know if it’s just going to be strictly about how you come off pit road--that’s how you’re going to run or not--and if that’s the case, then you might as well write it off. Whoever wins the race off pit road at Homestead, it’s theirs. It’s kind of unfortunate with what we’ve got going on right now.”

Busch established himself as a clear-cut contender in the first half of the regular season with three wins and just one finish outside of the top 10. He had a remarkable average finish of 6.76 in the first 13 races. 

Although he started Race 14 with a win at Pocono Raceway in June, the consistency Busch enjoyed earlier in the year didn’t exist in the summer months. His average finish over the last 10 races is 11.6. Busch cites execution—or the lack thereof—for his lackluster performance of late.

And while Busch’s performance has cooled, Harvick—another perennial contender—has just hit his stride with three victories in the last seven races. But Busch’s toughest competition could come from his own teammate, Denny Hamlin. Under the direction of crew chief Chris Gabehart, Hamlin 2.0 is a tour de force.

Busch, however, picked up an additional 15 points after winning the regular-season title, but having an engine fail just past half way at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and finishing 37th doesn’t do much for morale entering the post-season.

“It would certainly be nice to be headed into the playoffs with a little momentum on our side,” Busch said. “That’s not the case. 

“But having the bonus points and having the season that we’ve had, we’ve had success. It gives us a little bit of a cushion to have going into the Playoffs which is nice. Just hopefully the issues we had (on Sunday) don’t pop back up and we can get through a clean playoff.”

Since winning the 2015 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup title, Busch has advanced to the Championship 4 round of the Playoffs each year. But he hasn’t left Homestead-Miami Speedway with the hardware. 

“You try to learn from your mistakes,” Busch said. “You try to figure out ways of not being able to have the same circumstances take you out again, but sometimes it’s circumstantial. You just never know. 

“We won the title in our first year together. We have been able to back it up with championship race Playoff positions each year since. Hopefully, we can keep that trend going. We have certainly worked hard throughout the regular season to get this Playoff point advantage that we have right now. It would be nice to not have to rely on those points, but to be able to win some races here and close out the season strong and get to Homestead and race for a Championship.”

In 16 starts at his home track—Las Vegas Motor Speedway—Busch has one win from the pole in 2009, seven top fives and nine top 10s. In the spring, Busch started and finished third. On Sunday, the race will go green during the day and end under the lights. It’s a whole new challenge for Busch and his fellow competitors.

“We’re going from day to night so it’s going to be different variables and different variables sometimes lend themselves to guys that can adapt like myself and Adam Stevens (crew chief) over other teams that don’t quite have as good of adaption.”