NASCAR: Kurt Busch Is As Good Of A Pick As Kyle For 2016
By Cole Mentzel
Though Kyle Busch will be a popular pick for the 2016 NASCAR season, his brother Kurt should not be overlooked.
We all know how it unfolded in 2015. With a reason to be optimistic for the year, Kyle Busch entered the weekend of the Daytona 500 with no idea that his season was about to change. The long ride off the track before finally crashing violently into the wall is something that scares every NASCAR fan.
Busch would go on to miss the first 11 races of the season before making his debut in the Coca-Cola 600. It took him four weeks to get used to being back in the car and then he caught fire and won four out of five races (Sonoma, Kentucky, Loudon, Indianapolis). After working himself into the top-30 in points, he went on to have a solid Chase before winning at Homestead and clinching the championship.
But Kyle wasn’t the only Busch that competed in the Sprint Cup Series last season.
Kurt Busch started off the season with troubles just as Kyle did, except his situation was a little different. In February of 2015, it was announced that Kurt had been suspended for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend. He went on to miss the first three races of the season before returning to the track on March 15th for Phoenix. Busch went on to have one of his best seasons before falling out of the Chase in the Eliminator 8 round.
Now, after two successful seasons in 2015, the Busch brothers will enter 2016 with momentum and high expectations for the future. While the natural, and obvious, response would be to choose Kyle as a favorite to win the championship in 2016, Kurt is a driver that is often overlooked and he will have a real shot at going deep in the Chase again this year.
He used his hardship as momentum in 2015, and that propelled him to a solid year. His two wins came at Richmond in the spring and Michigan in the summer, after rain shortened the race.
He had 10 top-5’s (tied for second most in career), 21 top-10’s (tied for most of career) and three poles (tied for second most in career). In 33 races this season, he finished outside of the 20th position only THREE times, leading to a career-best average start (10.1) and average finish (11.1).
If it wasn’t for a wreck at Martinsville, he most likely would’ve been racing for a championship at Homestead. He finished 7th in the next two races at Texas and Phoenix. Needing a win going into the race at Phoenix, Busch jumped out to the lead early but was hit with a penalty that ultimately ended his chances of getting the victory.
As we’ve seen with the new Chase format, all it takes is one bad race to end a season and that it exactly what eliminated Busch in 2015. He seemed to have great cars and that should carry over into this season.
Busch is always one driver who tends to get overlooked for the Johnson’s and Logano’s but he is, in fact, right on par with them. He has taken a big step forward since joining Stewart-Haas Racing for the 2014 season and working with drivers like Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart has helped him revive his career in way, since he went through some tough seasons after winning a championship in 2004.
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Though he may not be the most popular driver in the field, Kurt Busch is rising again, and he will be a major threat to make it to Homestead and tame the Chase in 2016.