NASCAR: Schedule change alters Kyle Busch’s plans

By Asher Fair | Jul 29, 2020

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

Kyle Busch was to have competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International for his final start of the 2020 season. Now there is no race, and he can’t compete in the replacement event.

Kyle Busch was slated to make his fifth and final start of the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, August 15.

He has already competed in the races at Phoenix Raceway, Darlington Raceway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway. He finished in third place at Phoenix Raceway and second at Darlington Raceway before winning at Charlotte Motor Speedway, but he then had a win stripped from him at Texas Motor Speedway after his #54 Toyota failed post-race inspection.

Stricter limitations on full-time Cup Series drivers with five or more years of experience at NASCAR’s top level of competition restrict Busch from competing in more than five events at the sport’s second highest level of competition. This limit had been 10 races in 2017 and then seven races in 2018 and 2019 before yet another reduction ahead of the 2020 campaign.

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But now that scheduled fifth start won’t happen for the 35-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native, at least not at the planned venue — or even on the planned date.

The race at Watkins Glen International was relocated to the Daytona International Speedway road course since NASCAR, which was also supposed to run a Cup Series race at the eight-turn, 2.454-mile (3.949-kilometer) road course in Watkins Glen, New York that weekend, was unable to secure a waiver from the state of New York.

This waiver would have allowed the sport to bypass the mandatory 14-day quarantine period enforced by Governor Andrew Cuomo on individuals traveling to the Empire State from several states. Among those states is North Carolina, where most teams are based.

While no one will be competing at Watkins Glen International on the third weekend in August, Busch also won’t be competing at all on Saturday, August 15, when that race was to have taken place.

With the initially scheduled Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway from Friday, June 12 realigned to the Daytona International Speedway road course as well, all three of NASCAR’s national series are slated to be in Daytona Beach, Florida during this particular weekend.

As a result, NASCAR is only allowing each driver the opportunity to compete in one race at the 12-turn, 3.56-mile (5.729-kilometer) road course, which includes much of the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) high-banked oval in addition to a whale tail-like section of the infield and a chicane on the oval’s back straightaway.

This restriction was mandated so that nobody gains an unfair advantage, as there will not be any practice time for the drivers of any of these three series.

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So there won’t be any full-time Cup Series drivers running the Xfinity Series race, meaning Busch will have to find a new location to make his fifth and final start of the 2020 season as he pursues his 100th career win and his retirement from the series. He is currently three wins shy of that mark.

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