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NASCAR: Top 10 active drivers from an all-time perspective

By Asher Fair

MARTINSVILLE, VA - APRIL 02: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, leads Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Tide Pods Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 2, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
MARTINSVILLE, VA - APRIL 02: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's Chevrolet, leads Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Tide Pods Toyota, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway on April 2, 2017 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /
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WATKINS GLEN, NY – AUGUST 06: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 6, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
WATKINS GLEN, NY – AUGUST 06: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, leads a pack of cars during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 6, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images) /

#2 – Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 18 Toyota

It’s hard to believe that Kyle Busch is still only 32 years old given how great his Cup Series career has been thus far already. Currently in his 13th season of full-time competition, Busch recently took 2nd on the all-time wins list among active drivers with his 39th career victory at Pocono.

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While he has been arguably the sport’s top driver over the past few years, it took Busch a while to establish himself as a true championship contender. While he did win eight races, a career-high, in the 2008 season, he just was not strong late in the season, and that cost him. He only finished in the top 4 in the championship standings for the first time in the 2014 season, his 10th season as a full-time driver.

It was the 2015 season that defined Busch’s career thus far from a competition standpoint, at least so far. After a nasty wreck in the Daytona Xfinity Series race to start the season that broke his right leg and left foot, he ended up missing the first 11 races of the Cup Series season.

When he did finally return, he returned with a vengeance, winning his fifth race back at Sonoma before going on a three-race winning streak, giving him four victories in five races to lock himself into the playoffs despite the fact that he missed the first 11 races of the season.

Busch locked himself into the final four at Homestead-Miami despite the fact that he had not won any of the 15 races following his three-race win streak during his stint of four wins in five races. However, he ended up winning at Homestead to secure his first career Cup Series championship after a season during which he won five races despite the fact that he drove in just 25 of the 36 events on the schedule.

No active one-time Cup Series champion overcame the amount of adversity that Busch did to win that one championship, and he has better career statistics than all of them as well to support his case as the #2 driver in these rankings at just 32 years of age behind only an all-time great.

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