NASCAR: Should this recent trend concern Kyle Busch?

Kyle Busch got the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season off to a hot start, winning the Busch Clash at the Daytona road course. But he hasn’t won since.

Following a last-lap “clash” between Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott and Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney, it was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch who capitalized to win the first ever Busch Clash at the Daytona International Speedway road course ahead of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening Daytona 500 at the track’s famed oval.

However, much like the majority of Busch’s 2020 season, the 2021 season hasn’t gone according to plan for the two-time champion.

Even after a crew chief change atop the pit box for the #18 team, Busch has not yet found victory lane through 10 races, and he has recorded just two top five finishes. Neither one of those top five finishes came after he was truly a contender for the win.

Unfortunately for him, there is another recent trend, coupled with his recent struggles, that he will be looking to end at some point in the very near future.

Reigning Clash winners have gone 0 for their last 91 in points-paying races going back to September 2018.

The last time a season’s Clash winner won a points-paying race was three seasons ago, when Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski won the round of 16 playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He went on to be eliminated in the round of 12 and finished the season 0 for 9.

In 2019, Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson won the Clash. He ended up going winless, 0 for 36, throughout the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career. In fact, he retied after the 2020 season without a win since June 2017.

Then last year, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Erik Jones won the Clash. He ended up going winless for the first time in three seasons for Joe Gibbs Racing, also 0 for 36, throughout the season and failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time with the team. He ended up being replaced by Christopher Bell after the season ended, and he still hasn’t won since September 2019.

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Now Busch is 0 for 10 to start the season without the speed to signal a turnaround, and he sits in 13th place in the playoff picture.

And over the last two seasons, he hasn’t exactly been the Kyle Busch we’re all accustomed to seeing, either. He won just one race all of last season, and it didn’t come until the 34th race on the schedule at Texas Motor Speedway. He failed to qualify for the Championship 4 for the first time since 2014 and didn’t even make it past the round of 12.

Busch entered the 2020 season having led at least 1,379 laps in four consecutive seasons. He led just 516 laps last season, and this season, he has led just 14 laps — an average of 1.4 per race.

Even prior to the 2020 season, he struggled. But his struggles were largely masked by the fact that he won the 2019 championship. His title-clinching win at Homestead-Miami Speedway that November just so happens to be his only other win since June 2019, giving him just one win in his last 46 starts and just two in his last 68.

And recent Clash history doesn’t favor him turning that around.

Notably, Busch has won at least one race in 16 consecutive seasons, which is tied for third place on the all-time list and trails Richard Petty’s record by just two seasons. A win this year would tie him for second on that list with the late, great David Pearson.

The next race on the 2021 schedule is scheduled to take place at Kansas Speedway, where Busch has one win in 26 career starts, this afternoon. This race, the Buschy McBusch Race 400, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. Busch won the Truck Series race at the track yesterday evening.