NASCAR Truck Series: KBM shouldn’t change driver lineup for 2020

Despite the fact that both Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland failed to qualify for the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, Kyle Busch Motorsports should not change their driver lineup ahead of the 2020 season.

Kyle Busch Motorsports finished the 2019 NASCAR Truck Series regular season with six victories in 16 races, which was twice as high as the next highest win total among teams. Niece Motorsports won three races throughout the regular season.

But neither one of Kyle Busch Motorsports’ two full-time drivers, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland, won any of these races.

Both of them ended up failing to qualify for the playoffs, rendering the 2019 season as somewhat of a lost cause for the team even after team owner Kyle Busch won all five of his starts and Greg Biffle won his lone start after having not driven in NASCAR in three years and after having not driven in the Truck Series in 15 years.

Even early on in the season, Busch did not hesitate to publicly criticize Burton and Gilliland for their performances.

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As a result, it is hard to picture the 34-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native being anything other than irritated by the fact that neither Burton nor Gilliland qualified for the eight-driver, three-round, seven-race playoffs.

It isn’t hard to picture Busch looking at potential replacements for Burton behind the wheel of the #18 Toyota next year and for Gilliland behind the wheel of the #4 Toyota next year.

But Kyle Busch Motorsports should not change their driver lineup for the 2020 season.

Other than Burton, Gilliland, Busch and Biffle, look at how the team’s drivers performed this year. With whom would Kyle Busch Motorsports replace them?

Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Raphael Lessard and Chandler Smith combined to compete in 11 races for the team throughout the regular season. They combined to record five top 10 finishes, of which only two were top five finishes, and an average finish of 11.09.

Smith was the best of these four drivers, dominating the race at Iowa Speedway early on after starting from the pole position and recording an average finish of 6.00 in two races. But he is also a 17-year-old kid who isn’t slated to turn 18 years old until Friday, June 26, 2020, so he won’t be able to compete full-time next year.

Eckes, Herbst and Lessard combined to compete in nine races for the team throughout the regular season, and they combined to record three top 10 finishes, of which only one was a top five finish. The combined average finish among these three drivers was 12.22.

Meanwhile, Burton finished the regular season in sixth place in the standings. He recorded nine top 10 finishes, including seven top five finishes. Among his seven top five finishes were four career-high third place finishes. His average finish was 10.81.

Gilliland finished the regular season in seventh place in the standings. He also recorded nine top 10 finishes, including three top five finishes. Among his three top five finishes were two top three finishes, and among these two top three finishes was a career-high second place finish in the race at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. His average finish was 11.69.

Dumping Burton or Gilliland for Eckes, Herbst, Lessard or pretty much anybody else would be a knee-jerk reaction, and after what happened this season, Kyle Busch Motorsports cannot afford to make a knee-jerk reaction. If they opt to replace either one or both of these drivers, they would be putting themselves in the same position that they were in this year.

With just 15 combined starts and a combined average finish of 13.40 driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports in their careers, none of these three drivers have anywhere close to the experience that Burton and Gilliland have, and none of them have proven themselves to be better options. None of them have ever even recorded a top three finish.

No matter who the team would sign, their new full-time driver or drivers would end up being exorbitantly hyped up like Burton and Gilliland were, and if they don’t either win or finish literally at the top of the regular season standings, they will be judged the same way Burton and Gilliland have been judged assuming they don’t qualify for the playoffs.

The cycle would be destined to continue.

Let’s keep this in perspective. Harrison Burton is 18 years old. Todd Gilliland is 19 years old. They are loaded with potential, and they have shown it on several occasions. Their departures from Kyle Busch Motorsports can still be to the NASCAR Xfinity Series as opposed to unemployment.

Regardless of what Kyle Busch Motorsports drivers have done in the past, these two drivers were unjustifiably expected to tear it up in their first full seasons driving for the team. The fact that they finished as high as they did in the regular season standings without winning is more than respectable given how many veterans on top-tier teams they were up against.

Kyle Busch Motorsports simply cannot afford to give up on them after the 2019 Truck Series season.

Fortunately, despite the fact that ninth place in the championship standings is the best possible result for either driver, they still have seven playoff races in which they can prove their worth before the season officially ends, and with the pressure of qualifying for the playoffs off of their backs by default, getting the monkeys off of their backs via their first trips to victory lane may be in sight.