Kyle Busch has had a tough and frustrating season, and as a two-time Cup Series champion, he’s currently missing out on a chance for his 12th consecutive NASCAR playoff appearance.
Busch is aiming to leave his past troubles behind at Darlington Raceway, where winning the Southern 500 on Sunday night is his only chance to keep his streak of playoff appearances alive.
“Every week, it just kind of seems like, ‘OK, what’s next?’” Busch said Saturday. “But that’s something that we can’t change.”
Busch, who hasn’t won in 46 races, almost secured his spot at Daytona last week but lost in a dramatic final lap battle with Harrison Burton. As a result, Busch is 19th on the playoff grid, 106 points behind the leaders, and his only chance is to win at Darlington for the first time since 2008.
He hasn’t missed the playoffs since 2012, but he is determined not to let his difficulties this year distract him in the last race of the regular season.
“You can use that as a distraction or a motivation tool,” said Busch, who won the series championship in 2015 and 2019. “We’ll look to make that our motivation.”
Winning at Darlington won’t be easy for Busch. His best finish here was seventh place in May 2023, his top performance since joining Richard Childress Racing after leaving Joe Gibbs Racing two seasons ago.
Busch finished 27th in the spring race at Darlington and was never a serious contender.
“We don’t come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we’re going to not run well,” Busch said. “We put heads together and try to figure out why and said, ‘We’re going to go there with the best car we can and try to kick their butts and get a win.’”
Busch is not the only driver on the outside.
