NASCAR: Kyle Busch’s frustrating season summed up by one stat

No statistic does a better job summing up Kyle Busch’s frustrating 2022 NASCAR Cup Series behind the wheel of the #18 Toyota than this one does.

The last few NASCAR Cup Series seasons have been far from Kyle Busch’s best. The 2020 season didn’t see him win until the 34th of 36 races on the schedule, the latest he has ever gone without a victory, and while he did bounce back with two wins in 2021, he failed to qualify for the Championship 4 for the second straight year.

Even his championship race win at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November 2019, which came in his fifth straight Championship 4 appearance, came amid a win drought of more than five months.

Busch has managed to find victory lane in 2022, winning the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway back in mid-April to make the 2022 season his 18th consecutive winning season. He is now tied with Richard Petty for the record in that category.

But without that win, Busch would be on the outside of the playoff picture heading into the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, and when you consider how he won that race, it’s insane just how close we might have been to the two-time champion missing the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick took the lead on lap 151 of 250 around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) Bristol, Tennessee oval. He led 99 of the race’s final 100 laps, but not the one that counted.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe, seeking his second win of the season, went for it all and made a bold move on Reddick going into turns three and four. It didn’t pay off, as both drivers were sent spinning.

Reddick was able to straighten his car out and maintain the lead heading to the checkered flag. But his loss of momentum allowed Busch to catch up and pass him in the last few yards, winning the race by just 0.330 seconds over the driver of the #8 Chevrolet.

Had Busch not “backed into” that win, he would be in a must-win situation with one race remaining in the regular season.

There have been 14 other winners this season, and there are two non-winners, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Martin Truex Jr., ahead of Busch in the point standings.

Truex, who is currently the first driver below the cut line, would be the 16th and final driver above it, with Busch as the first driver below it. However, he wouldn’t be able to pass his teammate on points.

He currently sits in ninth place in the standings, 75 points behind Truex in sixth. Had he finished the Bristol dirt race in third place instead of first, he would be sitting 81 points behind.

There are only 60 points on the table in each race for each driver, with 10 points going to the stage one winner, 10 points going to the stage two winner, and 40 points going to the race winner.

Of course, we’d be remiss not to mention the fact that there are other races which Busch had a shot to win but couldn’t, specifically those at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway.

But the fact that he couldn’t do so just goes to further illustrate the struggles he has faced this year, and all amid the hunt for a new contract.

After beginning the season with 11 top 10 finishes in 15 races, including five top three finishes in a seven-race span, the 37-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native has just one in the last 10, and that one is a lackluster ninth place effort at Richmond Raceway. Those 10 races have produced seven results of 20th or worse.

He did finish in second place at Pocono Raceway, and race winner Denny Hamlin was disqualified — but Busch too was disqualified, adding to the frustration.