Kyle Busch: The Hunt for First Victory in 2017 Continues

By Asher Fair | Jun 23, 2017

Jun 2, 2017; Dover, DE, USA; NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch (18) during the qualifying for the AAA 400 Drive For Autism at Dover International Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports /

The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season is now 15 races into the 36-race campaign. However, even through 15 races, three of the top 5 drivers in the championship standings have yet to win a race. Kyle Busch is one of those three.

We’ll start off with an excerpt from a previous article:

"“In the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series season, 15 races have been completed, and 21 remain on the schedule. While the season is not yet halfway done, 15 races is still a pretty large sample size of races. That is, it is large enough to make the fact that three of the top 5 drivers in the championship standings have yet to win a race so far this season pretty astounding.The drivers in 1st and 2nd place in the championship standings, Kyle Larson and Martin Truex Jr., respectively, each have two victories so far this season. However, all 11 of the other victories have come from drivers currently 6th place or lower in the standings. None of the 15 races so far this season have been won by the drivers currently in 3rd, 4th or 5th place in the standings.”"

Kyle Busch is one of those three drivers, and he is the highest of the three in the standings, as he currently sits in 3rd place despite no victories through 15 races so far this season. Busch has been in the news plenty of times this season, but rarely has it been for good reason. In fact, it has really only ever been for bad reasons.

More from Kyle Busch

Busch called out Goodyear tires after a crash at the Daytona 500, and he started a brawl after the Las Vegas race with Joey Logano and his crew members after a late wreck took him out of contention. He also disregarded Talladega as not a real race track after failing to win there before he went on to finish 5th place at Kansas, a track he considers a real race track, but called his race just mediocre.

Then, after his 2nd place finish at Charlotte, he gave an obnoxious post-race interview, which you can see below.

But while the frustrations have certainly been bottling up in Kyle Busch this season, he has had a number of solid finishes. He has finished in 2nd place twice so far this season, with those finishes coming at Martinsville and Charlotte, as referenced above, and he has led the 2nd-highest lap amount of all drivers in 2017.

The hunt for his first victory of 2017 and first victory since last year’s Brickyard 400 could very well end for Kyle Busch, winner of 38 career Cup races, in the near future. Until now, he hadn’t started off a season with 15 consecutive non-wins since 2006, when he didn’t win until the 19th race of the season, so he is very much due for a victory.

Busch has, in fact, been arguably the fastest driver in the field this season, let alone the fastest driver without a victory. He has driven in 31 races since he was last victorious, but that streak may very well come to an end very soon. Of the drivers in the top 5 in the standings with no wins so far this season, Busch has the best chance of getting his first victory before the other two.

Next: Three Of Top 5 Still Searching For First 2017 Victory

At which race, if any, do you think Kyle Busch will find Victory Lane for the first time in 2017? Be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions, and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.

Home/Kyle Busch