NASCAR: Kyle Busch is still missing one thing

As Kyle Busch matched a major Richard Petty record, his NASCAR Cup Series career continues to lack one key piece that most other greats have attained.

By leading only the final lap in Sunday’s 250-lap dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway following a last-turn collision involving leaders Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe, Kyle Busch became just the ninth driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to reach 60 wins.

He also became just the second driver in Cup Series history to win at least one race in 18 consecutive seasons. Only one other driver managed to do so, that being seven-time champion Richard Petty, and his streak stopped at 18.

Petty won at least two races every year from 1960 to 1977. Prior to 2022, five of Busch’s 17 winning seasons included only one win, most notably the 2020 season when it took him until the 34th of 36 races to win. But he still managed to keep the streak alive every year and make history.

But there is still one thing absent from Busch’s Hall of Fame-caliber career.

The 36-year-old has multiple crown jewel victories to his name, though maybe not as many as you’d expect for a 60-time winner. He won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in 2008, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2015 and 2016, and most recently, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2018.

But in 17 attempts, Busch has never won a Daytona 500. In fact, his sixth place finish in this year’s running of the “Great American Race” was only his fifth top 10 finish in the race.

His best effort came in 2019 when he finished in second. However, other than that, he hasn’t exactly been close, and every year that goes by, the question is asked again — and justifiably so.

Busch has never been a great superspeedway driver. He has just one win in 34 starts at Daytona International Speedway, and his average finish is only 19.3. At Talladega Superspeedway, he has just one win in 33 starts and an average finish of 21.0. Ironically, both of his superspeedway wins came in 2008. He is 0 for 52 since.

But save for Busch, every driver in the top 10 on the all-time Cup Series wins list has won the Daytona 500 at least once.

During his 2019 championship season, Busch became the all-time winningest driver not to win the Daytona 500.

In fact, he took that “honor” from Rusty Wallace, a 55-time race winner, by winning the 2019 title race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, though that probably — and understandably — wasn’t on his mind as he celebrated his second title.

In his three Daytona 500 starts since then, however, you better believe it was at the front of it, especially as two of the three resulted in DNFs.

But how crazy would it be if Busch managed to break Petty’s record with his 19th consecutive winning season by winning next year’s Daytona 500? The 65th running of the race is scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 19, 2023, and it is set to present the Las Vegas, Nevada native with his first opportunity to break that record.