May 10, 2021 | By Lee Spencer

Kyle Busch is trending in the right direction

Kyle Busch fans might finally have something to celebrate. 

Sure, Busch returned to Victory Lane last weekend at Kansas Speedway. But after Sunday’s third-place finish at Darlington Raceway, Busch had posted consecutive top-five finishes for the first time in 2021 and for the first time since last October, when he finished fifth at Kansas and followed that up with his Texas Motor Speedway win. 

Have Rowdy and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team finally turned things around?

“I think the biggest thing is just being able to unload fast and consistent and good,” Busch said after Sunday’s Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. “We actually drove up to the lead today on the restart there and got the lead and then had a tire go down. I thought that was the end of our day, but we were able to salvage something out of that without being able to tear up the car worse than we did. 

“Then to be able to get back through the traffic and have good pit stops today. The pit crew did a good job. All around, it was a good day--just lacked a little bit of overall speed to maintain with the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) there on the long runs.”

Three of the JGR Toyotas finished in the top five on Sunday. While Truex blew away the field—leading 248 of 293 laps—Busch, Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell all led laps throughout the course of the contest. Bell was running in the top 10 for most of the second and third stages and had raced his way into the top five before a flat right-front tire forced him to the pits in the closing laps.

Busch took the lead on Lap 14. Eight laps later, a corded left rear tire compromised his drive and he tagged the wall between Turns 3 and 4. Busch was able to save the car, minimize the damage and soldier on to a podium finish. It’s the first time since Ben Beshore replaced Adam Stevens as crew chief that the No. 18 team posted consecutive top-five runs.

“Overall, real good day,” said Busch. “I’m real proud of Ben and the guys. We’ve been doing a lot of work on some stuff. We’ve been talking a lot and communication is going well. It seems like we’re getting a little bit better, overall, clicking as a group which is good. We can build on this momentum here and hopefully take it on into Nashville, which is a similar package racetrack as this one. Good day, good effort.”

Busch climbed into the top 10 in the standings for the first time this year following his Kansas win. He feels the No. 18 team is gaining on the 750-horsepower package, which will play heavily into the postseason—including the Championship 4 finale at Phoenix Raceway. Truex won at Phoenix earlier this year.

“Definitely better than some of our other 750 package races, but just missing a little bit on the long run,” Busch said. “It seemed like we could fire off with Truex there and hang with him a little bit. Actually, we would catch him for about five laps, and then it was over. Just trying to hold on after that point.

“The 750 races haven’t necessarily been our best. We’ve run 750 short tracks, not 750 intermediates. This was a good basis for us. I felt like our cars—2017, 2018 time frame--were always really good. I feel like this is kind of a cookie-cutter for the Truex Jr. type era, if you will. Obviously, it paid dividends for him today.”

For the two-time champion, Darlington turned into a team bonding experience—one Busch hopes to build upon.

“I think things are going good,” Busch said. “We’re talking a lot—Ben and myself and the group. We’re clicking a little bit, and we’re trying to get everybody on the same page where I like to feel a car, drive a car, that sort of stuff.

"(Sunday), I felt like we were a little off on that. I didn’t quite have the feel that I was looking for until that last run. The last run was our best run, I thought, but that was just a little too late. The field got spread out by that point.”