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NASCAR: Kyle Busch’s title season statistically the best since 2000

By Asher Fair

HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota poses with the trophy after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 17: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota poses with the trophy after winning the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Homestead Speedway on November 17, 2019 in Homestead, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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Kyle Busch may have gone five and a half months without a win in the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season, but his championship season was statistically the best since 2000.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch entered the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on a 21-race win drought, having not won a race since he earned his fourth victory of the season way back in early June at Pocono Raceway.

Meanwhile, the other three Championship 4 drivers, teammates Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin along with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick, all won one of the three races in the round of 8 to qualify for the Championship 4.

Truex won the round of 8 opener at Martinsville Speedway before Harvick won the second race of the round at Texas Motor Speedway and Hamlin won the finale at ISM Raceway.

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But it was the 34-year-old Busch, the youngest driver of the group that made up the oldest Championship 4 that the Cup Series has ever seen, who won the 267-lap Ford EcoBoost 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Homestead-Miami Speedway oval in Homestead, Florida to secure the 2019 title.

He may not have won a race in five and a half months prior to his championship-winning performance when it mattered most, and he may have finished behind both of his Championship 4 teammates in the wins category throughout the season, as Truex drove to victory lane a series-high seven times in 2019 while Hamlin ranked second with six trips of his own.

But factoring in each of the 36 races on the schedule and his performances in them, his championship season was statistically the best in nearly two decades.

Busch finished the season with an average finish of 8.94, the best among all drivers. Busch himself topped this a season ago en route to a fourth place finish in the championship standings. His average finish was a career-high 8.31 to go along with a career-high eight victories, a career-high 22 top five finishes and a career-high 27 top 10 finishes.

He didn’t best himself in any of these categories this season with five victories, 17 top five finishes and 27 top 10 finishes.

But as far as champions are concerned, he recorded the best average finish since the 2000 season when Bobby Labonte won his one and only title. Labonte finished the 34-race season with four victories, 19 top five finishes, 24 top 10 finishes and an average finish of 7.44.

Until now, the best average finish among champions since Labonte posted this mark had been 9.67, which was recorded by Jimmie Johnson in the 2006 season when he clinched the first of his now record seven championships. Johnson finished the 2006 season with five victories, 13 top five finishes and 24 top 10 finishes.

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In the “win and in” modern-day NASCAR Cup Series playoff format, Kyle Busch’s historically good 2019 championship-winning season proved that winning isn’t everything. Even with a 21-race win drought, he still managed to win the title with what is now the best average finish for a series champion in nearly two decades.

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