NASCAR: Kyle Busch at risk of seeing historic streak snapped

If Kyle Busch fails to win any of the remaining four races on the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series schedule, it would end a historic run of winning seasons.

We are just three weeks away from the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season finale to determine who will be this year’s champion, and Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch still hasn’t won a race since he won last year’s season finale to secure his second title.

Busch won five races last season, as he won early and often before going on a lengthy win drought that ended with his title-clinching performance at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

As a result, he entered the 2020 season having won at least one race in 15 consecutive seasons.

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The all-time record is 18, which was set by Richard Petty from 1960 to 1977, and given the fact that Busch is still only 35 years old, he appeared to be well-positioned to move one step closer to that record this season, to move another step closer to it next season, to tie it in 2022 and to break it in 2023.

A 16th consecutive winning season would place him behind only Petty and David Pearson on the all-time list. Pearson had 17 consecutive winning seasons from 1964 to 1980. A 16th would tie Busch with Ricky Rudd (1983 to 1998), Rusty Wallace (1986 to 2001) and Jimmie Johnson (2002 to 2017), as he is currently tied with Darrell Waltrip (1975 to 1989), Dale Earnhardt (1982 to 1996) and Tony Stewart (1999 to 2013).

But 32 races into the 36-race season, his season has been highlighted by four runner-up finishes — not any trips to victory lane.

To make matters worse for Busch, he was eliminated before the Championship 4 for the first time since 2014. In fact, he experienced the earliest ever playoff elimination for a reigning champion, having been eliminated following the round of 12 and failing to even qualify for the round of 8.

No driver who was not championship eligible at the time of his victory has won a playoff race since Matt Kenseth won the round of 8 race at Phoenix Raceway in 2017. Kenseth had been eliminated in the round of 12.

A total of 27 playoff races have been contested since then without a non-playoff winner, and if that streak continues, Busch will be in for his first career winless season and an end to his impressive and historic 15-year winning streak.

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Will Busch extend his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons? The season is set to conclude with races at Kansas Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, all tracks where he has won before, over the next four Sundays.

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