NASCAR Cup Series: Kyle Busch fails to break Morgan Shepherd’s record

Kyle Busch failed to break Morgan Shepherd’s all-time record with 12 consecutive top 10 finishes to start a NASCAR Cup Series season.

Records are meant to be broken, but there is a reason why records are records. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch found that out in his pursuit to break Morgan Shepherd’s all-time record of 11 consecutive top 10 finishes to start a NASCAR Cup Series season, which he recorded in the 1990 season.

With his 10th place finish in last Monday’s race at Dover International Speedway, the Gander RV 400, Busch tied Shepherd’s record with his 11th consecutive top 10 finish to open up the season, and he entered Saturday evening’s race at Kansas Speedway, the Digital Ally 400, with a chance to break it.

Given his recent track history at the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Kansas Speedway oval in Kansas City, Kansas, the 34-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native appeared to have a great chance to become the first driver in Cup Series history to open up a season with 12 consecutive top 10 finishes.

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It is worth noting that drivers have, in fact, started Cup Series seasons with more than 11 consecutive top 10 finishes before, but these drivers skipped races en route to achieving those lengthy streaks.

Lee Petty opened up the 1954 season with 27 consecutive top 10 finishes over the course of the season’s first 30 races. Buck Baker opened up the 1957 season with 26 consecutive over the course of the season’s first 35 races. Marvin Panch competed in only 12 races throughout the 1963 season, and he finished all of them in the top nine. David Pearson opened up the 1969 season with 14 consecutive top six finishes over the course of the season’s first 16 races. Richard Petty opened up the 1969 season with 15 consecutive top nine finishes over the course of the season’s first 16 races.

Busch was unable to extend his streak of consecutive top 10 finishes to 12 to start the season, as he ended up finished in 30th place in the Digital Ally 400 after struggling early, being issued a penalty for driving through too many pit boxes during the pit stop that sent him to the lead in stage three and then enduring a tire rub that forced him to make a pit stop late in the race that put him three laps off the lead lap.

Will the record that is now shared by Kyle Busch and Morgan Shepherd for the most consecutive top 10 finishes to start a NASCAR Cup Series season with 11 ever be tied? If so, will it ever fall?