NASCAR: How should Kyle Busch rate his unusual season?

While Kyle Busch wasn’t at his best in the NASCAR Cup Series this year, he had a stellar record in the support series. How does 2021 rate for him?

Kyle Busch did not look like himself in the NASCAR Cup Series this season. He had just two wins, 14 top five finishes, and 22 top 10 finishes, and he ultimately finished in ninth place in the championship standings, his worst finish since 2014.

Busch did look like himself in the Xfinity Series. He picked up wins in all five of his starts, including his milestone 100th series victory in NASCAR’s return to Nashville Superspeedway.

It really was a tale of two seasons for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, so let’s take a closer look.

Earlier in his career, Busch was downright dominant in the Cup Series during a period bookended by championships. He was sidelined with injury for the start of the 2015 season, but he returned in late May and won four regular season races to help him make the playoffs, where he then won the finale to take home his first title.

He won 17 races over the next three seasons, earning trips to the Championship 4 each year, before winning five races and his second title in his fifth consecutive Championship 4 appearance in 2019.

The driver of the #18 Toyota has not seen that level of success since.

He had just one win last year, a win which came in the antepenultimate race at Texas Motor Speedway after he had already been eliminated from championship contention. He posted an average finish of 13.8 and had six DNFs, the most since his rookie season in 2005, en route to an eighth place finish in the standings.

This season, Busch had two fewer DNFs and improved his average finish by one position to 12.8. But his 334 laps led were the least of his full-time career, and he looked a lot like he did last year.

Despite the poor Cup Series results, he was surprisingly in contention down the stretch. His win at Pocono Raceway in late June moved him into the top five in points, where he remained throughout the rest of the regular season en route to a fourth place finish in the regular season standings.

Busch was seeded fourth to start the playoffs and advanced to the round of 8. He finished in second place in the penultimate race of the season at Martinsville Speedway, one position shy of winning his way into the Championship 4, and he finished just three points behind the Championship 4 cut line on points.

But while Busch largely struggled in the Cup Series, he had excellent runs in both the Xfinity Series and Truck Series.

Despite limits on the number of races that Cup Series drivers can run, Busch was able to make the most of his opportunities in these two support series.

The driver of the #54 Toyota won all five of his Xfinity Series starts, picking up his 100th series win in the process. His wins came at Circuit of the Americas, Texas Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Road America and Atlanta Motor Speedway. He led 353 of 615 laps (57.40%).

Busch won at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway in the Truck Series and finished in second place in his other three starts, all coming in the #51 Toyota for his own Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) team.

KBM also saw improved results on the full-time side, with John Hunter Nemechek winning five races (including an impressive three ahead of Busch in second place) and finishing third in points.

Busch mentioned on multiple occasions that he would step away from racing in the Xfinity Series after reaching the 100-win mark, which could create another notable highlight from 2021.

The 36-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native has recorded more support series wins than Cup Series wins in all but two years. In 2012, he went winless in 25 support series races and recorded one Cup Series victory. In 2018, he won eight races in the Cup Series compared to three in 12 support series starts.

With Busch stepping away from the Xfinity Series, 2021 may have been one of the last years during which he had more wins in the lower levels.

So all in all, how should Kyle Busch rate his 2021 season?

While success at NASCAR’s top level should be weighed higher than success in the lower ranks, Busch doesn’t seem to care where he’s successful. He doesn’t race in the two lower series for nothing; he does so because he loves to race and he loves to win. Surely, his results in those series should factor into his 2021 success rating.

Also, while he did not win the championship or make it to the Championship 4, he still found a way to remain relevant in a Cup Series season full of struggle. He has now won at least one race each year since his first full-time season in 2005, and he was in the title hunt up until the final lap of the penultimate race.

Denny Hamlin saw a 12-year win streak end when he failed to reach victory lane in 2018. Jimmie Johnson had a 16-year streak end in 2018. Kevin Harvick saw an 11-year streak conclude this past season, following a nine-win year in 2020.

Even Richard Petty’s longest streak was 18 years. Busch is now at 17 consecutive years with at least one win, which is tied for second place on the all-time list with David Pearson.

The fact that Busch still found a way to win and contend for a Cup Series championship in a season during which he struggled makes his 2021 campaign not look so bad. While it wasn’t a perfect year, 2021 should still be rated as an overall success as he looks forward to 2022.