NASCAR: The last time Kyle Busch lost a Truck Series race
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch has now won seven consecutive NASCAR Truck Series races. When did he last fail to find victory lane at NASCAR’s third highest level?
Kyle Busch did what absolutely everybody in NASCAR expected him to do on Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: get behind the wheel of the #51 Toyota Tundra for the team he owns, Kyle Busch Motorsports, and dominate yet another Truck Series race.
And absolutely everybody was absolutely correct.
The 34-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native dominated the 134-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in his home city, leading 108 laps en route to taking the checkered flag for a record 57th time in his Truck Series career and record 209th time in his NASCAR career.
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He is now 57 for 151 in Truck Series races and 209 for 209 for 1,038 across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series.
At this point, it almost has to be considered an embarrassment for Busch not to win a Truck Series race.
Unsurprisingly, that hasn’t happened in a very long time.
A very, very long time.
Busch has now won each of the last seven Truck Series races in which he has competed, going back to the July race at Pocono Raceway in the 2018 season. Before he won that race, he finished in second place at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of that year.
From that evening, Friday, May 18, 2018, to now, Saturday, February 22, 2020, 645 days (92 weeks and one day) have passed.
That race was one he probably should have won as well, but several disastrous pit stops throughout the 134-lap even around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Concord, North Carolina left him battling from behind and prevented him from leading even one lap.
He did still manage to finish in second place behind Johnny Sauter, which was probably the best he could’ve asked for. Sauter led 71 laps.
That left him fuming after the race when asked about how he was able to overcome the adversity he faced on pit road to work his way back up just to finish runner-up, and he proceeded to slam the very pit crew members he employs.
“Pure talent. That’s about it,” said Busch. “My pit crew did absolutely nothing to help me out tonight. My truck drove like shit, and these splitters are absolutely horrendous. You can’t pass in traffic, you can’t race alongside anybody, you can’t get within five truck lengths of no one, but somehow, some way, I was able to get back to the front. Had a blast.”
Since then, he has been on the longest winning streak of his career, and that “pure talent” has been showcased. In his seven starts since then, here are his numbers.
- Starts: 7
- Wins: 7 (100%)
- Laps completed: 989
- Laps led: 726 (73.41%)
- Lowest laps led percentage: 65.99% (97 of 147 at Texas Motor Speedway in 2019)
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Kyle Busch is set to make his next start in the NASCAR Truck Series in the next race on the schedule, the Georgia 200. This race is scheduled to take place on Friday, March 14, and it is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 from Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. His full five-race schedule for the 2020 season was announced earlier this month.