Has the season finally turned around for Kyle Busch and his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing team?
His results have shown promise over the last two weeks, with consecutive top-10 finishes at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway.
Notably, Busch spun in the closing laps while running inside the top 10 at Kansas. However, despite restarting 20th for an overtime restart, Busch drove to an impressive eighth-place finish.
Busch has been vocal about his quarrels with the Next Gen race car of late. After the NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last month, Busch voiced via social media his “hate” toward the car.
Earlier in the year, the two-time Cup Series champion was critical of the short-track package, believing it’s gotten “worse.”
Despite an uptick in performance, Busch is still firm in his opinion, stating “the better piece that you have at the race track, it’s going to mask a lot of things.”
“It’s going to make your job easier and the opportunity of going out there and getting strong finishes or wins a lot easier,” Busch said.
“Some guys have done a better job of that.”
Moving over to RCR last year from Joe Gibbs Racing, the results were immediate as he scored three victories in the first 15 races. Since then, however, it’s been tough sledding as Busch has gone winless.
“Last year, we were good out of the gate,” Busch said. “We had some good stuff, and then as times have changed, the setups have evolved and guys have found how to make their stuff go faster. We just haven’t been able to do that.”
Through the trials has potentially brought a light at the end of the tunnel for Busch over the last two weeks. Admittedly, Busch believes “it looked good the last two weeks.”
“I felt like the last two weeks at Dover and Kansas, we were respectable; contenders and much closer,” Busch said. “That was a nice change of pace. We were consistent top-five runners.
“Being a consistent top-five runner; get those top-five finishes and then that consistency will build into putting yourself in the right place, at the right time, in the end of these races to get a win.”
Busch enters this weekend at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway 12th in the standings. He boasts one victory at The Track Too Tough To Tame, which came in 2008.