NASCAR: Kyle Busch at risk of Jimmie Johnson-like trajectory?

NASCAR's "Wild Thing" has been anything but wild during the 2024 Cup Series season. Coming off of a three-win season in his first year with Richard Childress Racing, Kyle Busch finds himself winless this year.

The 39-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native did score a pole this season at Dover Motor Speedway, but he missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012 and sits in 20th place in the point standings.

Such performance marks a fall from grace for the two-time Cup Series champion. If he remains winless, it will end a 19-year streak that just last year broke Richard Petty's all-time record. Considering the fact that Busch has scored at least one Cup Series win since he started competing full-time in 2005, his current performance is among the worst of his career.

While the veteran scored two Truck Series victories earlier this year, his Cup Series falters continue to be noticeable, even for Busch himself. The 63-time race winner acknowledged this when he came short of victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. After finishing second to Stewart-Haas Racing Chase Briscoe, he said he might be a "washed-up old dog".

Unfortunately, declining performance in veteran drivers is not new in NASCAR. Fans may remember another multi-time Cup Series champion falling far from grace, that being seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson.

Is Kyle Busch becoming the next Jimmie Johnson?

With eight races left on the 2024 schedule, time will tell if Busch's 19-year winning streak comes to an end this year, but his results are similar to those of the El Cajon, California native.

Following a three-win season which extended his win streak to 15 years, Johnson's first winless season came in 2018, though he still made the playoffs. However, like Busch in 2024, Johnson missed out in 2019 and 2020 before retiring from full-time competition.

In 2019 and 2020, Johnson recorded 18th place finishes in the point standings. While he did record the occasional top five finish that would give hope to the fans of the No. 48, the inconsistency led to a lack of a playoff berth.

He would have qualified in 2020 if not for what he believes was a false positive COVID-19 test, but his results meant he would not have advanced far.

The one major difference between Johnson and Busch is the moment when things went wrong. Some still question the perceived tension between Busch and Richard Childress Racing. But Johnson's fall was largely pinned on a violent hit at Pocono Raceway in June 2017, one week after securing what remains his final win at Dover.

It may seem a bit premature to write off Busch completely and to say it's over for "Rowdy", but fans have seen a similar story unfold before.