A broken right leg and left foot sustained in a February crash cast serious doubt whether Busch would be able to race in 2015. But coming back far sooner than expected, he returned showing no ill effects and quickly resumed his winning ways. He would go to win four races -- all on different style tracks -- and easily earn a playoff spot despite missing 11 races.
With how dominant Busch and Joe Gibbs Racing have looked during the summer, presumably anything short of title would be viewed as a disappointment. Then again, considering how Busch's year began, a couple of wins and advancement to the championship finale would constitute a successful Chase.
Similar to how last year's playoffs unfolded, Busch strings together some solid finishes only to get knocked out in Round 2 due to Talladega's volatile and unforgiving nature.
Busch's mystifying streak of never making it to the last race of the season having never been in title contention comes to an end, as he advances to the final four rather comfortably. A series-first championship, however, remains elusive.