NASCAR: Will Kyle Busch win his first Daytona 500?

Sunday will mark Kyle Busch’s 15th start in the Daytona 500, a race in which the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion is winless. Can he get his first win?

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season opener will mark Kyle Busch’s 15th attempt at winning the Daytona 500. In his first 14 tries, he has come close to pulling into victory lane and hoisting the Harley J. Earl trophy multiple times.

The Daytona 500 is arguably the last big race Busch needs to win in his Cup Series career. In 2015, he won his first championship and his first Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. In 2016, he became the second driver to win consecutive Brickyard 400s (Jimmie Johnson in 2008 and 2009).

In 2018, Busch won Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. That win made him the only driver to win at every track where he has competed.

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In 2019, Busch won his second Cup Series championship, and at Auto Club Speedway early in the season, he earned his 200th NASCAR win across the top three series.

Even with all that, the two-time champion still has one race that he wants to win, and that is the Daytona 500.

Busch does not want to end up like former teammate and three-time champion Tony Stewart as a driver who could not get it done in the biggest race of the season.

He was recently quoted as saying, “I’ve yet to win the Daytona 500. Hopefully it doesn’t take ’20 years of trying’ like some other guy.”

This race clearly means a lot to the two-time champion, and it is one that he does not want hanging above his head; he wants to win the race sooner rather than later.

There have been several chances for Busch to win the Daytona 500. In 2007, he entered the final lap in second place behind Mark Martin before spinning out off of turn four coming to the checkered flag. Then in 2008, he was side by side for the lead on the last lap, but he finished in fourth after Team Penske teammates Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman passed him.

In 2009, Busch was the class of the field. He led 88 laps before getting taken out in the “Big One” on lap 124. He did not come all that close to winning the Daytona 500 again until last year. He was the leader late in the race, but teammate Denny Hamlin was able to get ahead of him on a late restart, and he had had to settle for second place.

The defending series champion has shown he can win at the superspeedways, as he won the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway in 2008 and the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway that same year.

Busch may not come into this year’s Daytona 500 as the favorite, but he is not a driver to sleep on. He has come close to winning the Daytona 500 many times in years past, so he could be due for the big win, and after winning his second championship last year, his main focus now is to win the “Great American Race”.

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There is no doubt that Kyle Busch will be a contender to win the Daytona 500. If he is able to make it to the end of the race, he will be determined to win, and you can not count him out at any track with a win on the line. It is win or nothing for Busch; second place means nothing to him, and you will see him go for it all.

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