NASCAR: Kyle Busch suddenly poised to break Richard Petty’s record

With a 16th consecutive winning season in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Busch is suddenly well-positioned to break Richard Petty’s all-time record.

One of the main reasons why Kyle Busch still wanted to win before the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series concluded, despite having been eliminated from championship contention following the round of 12 of the playoffs, marking his earliest elimination since 2014 and the earliest ever elimination for a reigning champion, was his streak of 15 consecutive winning seasons to start his career.

Through the first 33 races of the 2020 season, Busch still hadn’t found victory lane since he won the 2019 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch his second championship.

But in the season’s antepenultimate race at Texas Motor Speedway, he finally secured his first checkered flag of 2020.

In addition to ending a 28-race streak of championship-eligible drivers winning playoff races that dated back to November of 2017, Busch extended his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons. He has not yet had a winless season, and the 2020 season won’t be his first.

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Only twice in Cup Series history has a driver had more than 16 consecutive winning seasons, and Busch has a legitimate shot at the record.

“Yeah, it was obviously much needed and very much a lot of relief, as well, too,” Busch told the media after the race. “For me having the opportunity to continue that win streak was certainly high on our list, and when you fall out of the playoffs and you’ve got nothing else to race for, that’s all you have to race for is trophies and getting wins for the rest of this year, and it feels really good to be able to come here to Texas and score that win. We haven’t been the best on mile-and-a-halfs this year but we’ve been working on it and strategizing on things that we can do to improve and it was nice to see some of that in that fruit pay off tonight.”

With 15 straight winning seasons, Busch was tied for sixth place on the all-time list with Darrell Waltrip (1975 to 1989), Dale Earnhardt (1982 to 1996) and Tony Stewart (1999 to 2013). Now with 16, he is tied for third with Ricky Rudd (1983 to 1998), Rusty Wallace (1986 to 2001) and Jimmie Johnson (2002 to 2017).

The only two drivers to record more than 16 consecutive winning seasons are Richard Petty and David Pearson. Petty holds the all-time record with 18 in a row (1960 to 1977), with Pearson sitting in second place on that list with 17 (1964 to 1980).

“The opportunity of being able to continue the win streak is huge, and I say that because there’s a lot of people that put the pressure on me, on us as the 18 team that we’re known — we need to win. We should win. We have to win,” Busch added.

“All of that stuff kind of weighs on you a little bit, but to be honest with you, it just — they’re right. I’m not self-touting. I have been told by many a folk that I’m one of the best here, that’s been here, and to have that opportunity with myself and my team and the people that are around me, to go out there and win races, it makes sense. Like you should be able to win a race, races every year that you’re out there for a long time to come.”

Given the fact that he is only 35 years old, he is well-positioned to break Petty’s record, especially since he managed to find victory lane in what has been a hugely disappointing season for him.

“Obviously every great thing I guess must come to an end eventually, but man, I’m only 35,” he said. “Like I feel like I’ve got at least 10 more years left in me. There should be a great opportunity for this streak to go for a long, long time, and that’s why it’s been so stressful and has not felt very good to have this dry spell.”