NASCAR: Kyle Busch poised to break Richard Petty’s record
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch won for the 17th consecutive NASCAR Cup Series season at Kansas Speedway on Sunday afternoon in the Buschy McBusch Race 400.
Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch secured his first win of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season on Sunday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, taking the checkered flag to win the Buschy McBusch Race 400.
Busch — the driver, not the beer — led 20 laps of this 267-lap race around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Kansas City, Kansas to become the 10th different driver to win a race through the season’s first 11 events.
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This win, the 58th of his career, also gives him at least one victory in each of the last 17 seasons going back to his first season as a full-time driver in 2005.
Last season, it took Busch until the 34th of 36 races on the schedule at Texas Motor Speedway to finally find victory lane.
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He and the #18 team struggled with speed all season long, much like they had done up until this afternoon this season despite the offseason crew chief change, but he secured a victory for the 16th straight year back in October.
His 16th straight winning season tied him for third place on the all-time list with Ricky Rudd (1983 to 1998), Rusty Wallace (1986 to 2001) and Jimmie Johnson (2002 to 2017). He had been tied for sixth with Darrell Waltrip (1975 to 1989), Dale Earnhardt (1982 to 1996) and Tony Stewart (1999 to 2013).
Now with 17 straight winning seasons, he is tied with David Pearson (1964 to 1980) for second place on the all-time list, and he trails Richard Petty, the all-time recordholder, by just one season. Petty won at least one race for 18 straight years (1960 to 1977).
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The 2022 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, which will likely be scheduled for Sunday, February 20, one week after Super Bowl LVI, should present Busch with his first of 36 projected opportunities to tie Petty’s record.