NASCAR: How Kyle Busch kept a historic streak alive in 2020
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch may not have competed in last Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 after five consecutive appearances, but he kept a historic streak alive in the 2020 season.
For the first time since the inaugural season of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 back in 2014, Kyle Busch was not one of the four drivers competing in the winner-take-all round at Phoenix Raceway last Sunday, November 8.
Busch, who entered the 2020 season as the reigning champion, was eliminated after the round of 12, marking his earliest elimination since 2014 and marking the earliest elimination for a reigning champion throughout the Championship 4 era.
While he was eliminated from championship contention entering the round of 8 and no driver who was not championship eligible at the time of his win had won a playoff race since Matt Kenseth won at Phoenix Raceway in November of 2017, Busch took the checkered flag at Texas Motor Speedway to end this 28-race drought.
As a result, Kyle Busch leaves the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series season having won at least one race in each of his first 16 seasons of full-time competition.
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This is just two shy of the all-time record of 18 straight winning seasons, which was set by Richard Petty from 1960 through 1977 when he won at least two races per year.
Aside from Petty, the only driver whom Busch trails in this category is David Pearson, who won at least one race for 17 consecutive seasons from 1964 through 1980. To illustrate just how significant Busch’s win was, Petty and Pearson are the two winningest drivers in Cup Series history with 200 and 105 victories, respectively.
At the age of 35, Busch is well-positioned to turn his historic 16-year winning streak into an all-time record, one which he could add to for many years to come.
But had that streak come to an end in 2020 like many thought it would after he went winless through the 36-race season’s first 33 races, it would have been hard, if not impossible, to build it back up to this point.
Three other drivers won at least one race for 16 consecutive seasons, with one of those drivers, like Petty, having won at least two. Ricky Rudd won at least one race each year from 1983 through 1998 while Rusty Wallace won at least one race each year from 1986 through 2001 and Jimmie Johnson won at least two races each year from 2002 through 2017.
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Will Busch win at least one race for a 17th consecutive year in the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season? The season is scheduled to get underway with the 63rd annual Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 14, with live coverage from Daytona International Speedway set to be provided by Fox.