NASCAR: Joe Gibbs Racing back on the right track?

Kyle Busch says that Joe Gibbs Racing have “made some gains” following a slow start to the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Through the first 10 races of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season, Kyle Busch has yet to drive his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane. Believe it or not, the two-time and defending champion has only won one race in the last calendar year, with that being his 2019 championship-winning performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November.

Martin Truex Jr. hasn’t driven his #19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to victory lane yet this year, either. Joe Gibbs Racing’s only two wins this season came when Denny Hamlin drove his #11 Toyota to the front in the final few feet of the Daytona 500 to open up the season and then when he was effectively “saved” by a wreck Busch triggered late in the midweek race at Darlington Raceway.

That wreck eliminated Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott, who was on fresh tires, from contention. Shortly after it happened, the rain started to fall while Hamlin was still in the lead, and the race was officially ended.

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With all things considered, even with two wins that easily could have ended up in the hands of other teams, the start to the season has been a major disappointment for the team that won a modern era record 19 of the 36 races on last year’s schedule.

But Busch, despite his well-known frustration of not winning pretty much whenever he doesn’t win, is encouraged by the progress the team have made since NASCAR returned after the 10-week hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“As a team we’re not exactly where we want to be right now, but we have made some gains since we returned to racing,” Busch told Beyond the Flag. “I think if you look at all the JGR cars, our teammates have shown some speed so we’re trying to learn from each other.”

At Atlanta Motor Speedway this past Sunday, Busch tied his season-best finish of second place while Truex finished in a season-high third.

“Last week, Atlanta is kind of its own beast,” he continued. “Well, Atlanta and Homestead are pretty significant high downforce tracks, and we tend to run well here. Truex definitely tends to run well here. He did last year, and I think Denny has won here a couple times, so it’s a place that we should have good results at, and it’s nice to come out of here with a good solid run, run up front all day long and have a good outing. Hopefully we can keep that momentum rolling.”

Busch, who debuted the M&M’s Fudge Brownie paint scheme at Darlington Raceway three weeks ago in the race that featured the aforementioned controversial finish, has run the scheme in a few races since then, and he is set to run it again tonight at Martinsville Speedway and then again on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, provided the weather holds out and both races take place as planned.

The Fudge Brownie scheme is the latest permanent addition to the M&M’s lineup, and packs of M&M’s Fudge Brownies are available in stores now!

Busch himself has had several solid races as of late, as he has recorded six top four finishes in the last eight events. He has recorded three runner-up finishes so far this season (at Auto Club Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Atlanta Motor Speedway) and sits in ninth place in the championship standings.

The 35-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native is a two-time race winner at Martinsville Speedway and a two-time race winner at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Tune in to Fox Sports 1 at 7:00 p.m. ET tonight for the live broadcast of the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 500 from Martinsville Speedway, and tune in to Fox at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 14 for the live broadcast of the Dixie Vodka 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway.