NASCAR: Key difference in Kyle Busch’s plans for 2022
By Asher Fair
Kyle Busch made his first start of the 2022 NASCAR Truck Series season last week, but there is one key difference in his plan for the lower NASCAR series this year.
As a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver with more than five years of experience, two-time champion Kyle Busch is only allowed to make five starts each season in the Truck Series, and he is only allowed to make an additional five starts each season in the Xfinity Series.
Busch made the first of his five scheduled starts of the Truck Series season last Friday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and he finished in third place.
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The Kyle Busch Motorsports owner finished behind one of his own drivers, race winner Chandler Smith, as well as Front Row Motorsports’ Zane Smith. However, he was promoted to second place after Zane Smith’s #38 Ford failed post-race inspection.
It marked eight consecutive top two finishes for Busch at NASCAR’s third highest level going back to 2020, and it also marked eight straight Truck Series starts for Busch in which he beat every non-Kyle Busch Motorsports driver in the field.
Busch’s Truck Series schedule for the 2022 season was only revealed days before he made his first start of the year in this 134-lap Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) oval in Las Vegas, Nevada, his home track.
He is also set to compete in the events at Circuit of the Americas on Saturday, March 26; Martinsville Speedway on Thursday, April 7; Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 27; and Sonoma Raceway on Saturday, June 11.
But unlike in previous years, these five races are the only five races planned for him in NASCAR’s lower two series this year.
Busch is not scheduled to compete in any Xfinity Series races this year, after having competed in the series for 19 consecutive years going back to 2003. He had long said that he would retire from Xfinity Series competition after reaching 100 wins, and he did that last year.
The 36-year-old Las Vegas native opened the 2021 season with 97 career wins to his name at NASCAR’s second highest level, and like he did during the 2019 Truck Series season, he went five for five, winning at Circuit of the Americas, Texas Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, Road America and Atlanta Motor Speedway behind the wheel of Joe Gibbs Racing’s “star car”.
Busch secured his 100th win at Nashville Superspeedway, but while some expected to hang it up right then and there, he did run the two races remaining on his schedule at Road America and Atlanta Motor Speedway, as arrangements had already been made for him to compete.
However, at least so far, he has stuck to his retirement commitment.
Multiple drivers have been confirmed behind the wheel of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series “star car” for this season, including Drew Dollar, Trevor Bayne, and Ryan Truex. But Busch has not, leaving him with just four lower series starts — all Truck Series starts — remaining in 2022.
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The driver who has long been associated with the restrictions on full-time Cup Series drivers competing in lower series has, for the first time, no plans to compete in one of those two series in 2022.