Kyle Busch was one NASCAR Cup Series driver who was ready for the 2024 season to end.
The two-time series champion did not have many highlights to look back upon. For the first time since 2005, his rookie season, Busch finished outside the top 15 in the championship standings (20th). He failed to earn a berth in the postseason for the first time since 2012, and just the fourth time in his career.
To hear Busch call the season “character building” and “certainly frustrating” came as no surprise. Statistically, it was one of the worst seasons of his career with top-10 finishes and five top-fives.
“[It was] just not at all what we had hoped it to be after some success last year, especially early in the year having those three wins and then struggling a little bit on and off,” Busch said. “But then this year, just seemingly not being able to get the monkey off our back. Even having a shot to win late in the day; being close at Daytona, and maybe even closer at Kansas, and not being able to pull through.
“We probably had a handful of opportunities that slipped out from under us. So [I] can’t say we never had an opportunity to but obviously didn’t get it done.”
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After picking up three wins through the first half of 2023 — his first season driving for Richard Childress Racing — Busch went winless. That was the most disappointing thing for Busch — an added insult to injury.
He was the second loser in the three-wide photo finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Daniel Suarez and Ryan Blaney. The margin of victory was 0.003s on Blaney and 0.004s on Busch.
Busch finished second in the summer Daytona race, passed on the last lap by Harrison Burton. A week later, he was second again, this time at Darlington Raceway. And at Kansas Speedway, Busch from the race lead with 32 laps to go.
Not being able to pick up at least one victory ended what had become of the most impressive and talked about streaks in the Cup Series. Until this year, Busch had won at least one race in each of his 19 full seasons (2005-23).
“I would have much rather it been [that] if I’m going to run six, seven more years that it last 25, 26 years and just make it a mark that will never be achievable,” Busch said. “But unfortunately, those things didn’t happen. Things changed for me a couple of years ago (moving to RCR), and I was grateful to be able to extend the streak last year and make it my own.
“But honestly … it’s hard to put that many good years together in a row. It’s difficult.”
Busch holds the record for having the longest streak of consecutive seasons with a win. He took it from Richard Petty, who went 18 straight years. The closest active driver to competing with Busch’s streak is Joey Logano at 13 consecutive seasons.