A variety of topics have garnered the spotlight through seven of the 10 races comprising the Chase for the Sprint Cup. The newsy matters include Martin Truex Jr.‘s first round dominance, he and Brad Keselowski’s far sooner than expected elimination in the second bracket, Kevin Harvick’s ever-present resilience, and most recently Jimmie Johnson’s quest to win a record-tying seventh title.
Kyle Busch quietly positioning himself for 2nd straight title
Although his name has largely been out of the news, NASCAR’s defending champ is positioned to win a second consecutive Sprint Cup title.
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Notice someone’s name missing from the above? You know, Kyle Busch, the defending champion, who’s largely flown under the radar all the while enjoying a largely quiet, though very productive, playoff.
That he hasn’t received much attention doesn’t bother Busch, who’s finished eighth or better in all but one race and easily advanced out of the first rounds. His lone stumble, if you even want to call it that, was a 30th at Talladega Superspeedway brought about by purposely running in the back to ensure avoidance of an incident that could lead to his dismissal from the Chase.
Overall, Busch actually has a better average finish (8.4) than compared to year ago (12.7) when he used a similar consistent approach to win a first-ever series championship.
“Just trying to stay pretty even,” Busch said. “Don’t get too excited, don’t get too down.
“Anything can happen so we just have to make sure we can take what’s given to us like we did last year. There were some times we didn’t get the finishes we wanted, but we were still able to transfer through. This year, we will try to get the finish we do want and make our way through the round if possible and get to the end.”
The only time NASCAR’s reigning champ really had his name in the news came following last Sunday’s third round opener at Martinsville Speedway where an annoyed Busch mildly called out Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin afterward.
Even then, Busch’s frustration could be excused to some degree with the half-mile Virginia short track renowned for fraying drivers’ nerves due to its tight confines, and the fact a win there would’ve guaranteed automatic advancement to the championship segment.
Nonetheless, even with Johnson having already claimed one of four spots available in the season finale, Busch is well positioned to join the six-time champion at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a shot to hold the Sprint Cup trophy for a second successive year.
Coming off a fifth-place effort at Martinsville, Busch is four points up on Joey Logano for the final transfer position heading into Sunday’s Round 3 middle event at Texas Motor Speedway (2 p.m. ET, NBC), a track where Busch won in the spring.
Factoring how strong the Toyotas have performed on mile-and-a-half ovals this season -- Toyota drivers have combined to lead 52 percent of all laps in nine races on 1.5-mile tracks -- conventional wisdom favors JGR again setting the pace.
Which means barring a mechanical failure or some other fluky occurrence, Busch should find himself in contention, if not for a victory than a finish somewhere in the top five. That would put him on sound footing heading into the semifinal round elimination race at Phoenix International Raceway to secure a berth in the Final Four Nov. 20 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
“I can’t tell you where we’re going to finish at Texas and how good we’re going to run,” Busch said. “You can only take it one race at a time.
“So, we go to the next one, we work on it and we make sure we get out of there with as good of a day as we can. We assess where we are and where we need to be and what we need to do with the next one.”
Taking it “one race at time” is how Busch approached last year’s Chase -- with obvious success. Such a mentality was a departure from seasons prior where regular season superiority didn’t carry over to the playoffs, often culminating in insurmountable setbacks early on.
This Busch, though, the one who’s defended his title with aplomb winning four times (tied for series best) and ranking second in laps led and top-five finishes carries a cool confidence. And wouldn’t you know, he stands an equally good chance of producing a similar outcome to last year.
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