Although long regarded as one of NASCAR’s great talents, Kyle Busch seemed destined to forever carry the reputation of a driver who could win races in abundance — except not the events that mattered the most nor as someone who produced in the clutch.
But since returning from devastating injuries last May, Busch has transformed the prism of how his career is viewed. He showed indomitability in winning on the demanding Sonoma Raceway road course mere weeks after coming back from breaking his right leg and left foot. He captured NASCAR’s second-biggest event, the Brickyard 400 — one of four regular season victories despite being sidelined 11 races — that helped solidify a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup playoff, then went on to record a first-ever championship by claiming the winner-take-all season finale.
That remarkable change of narrative continued Sunday, as Busch won for the first time at Martinsville Speedway, an ultimate drivers’ track where skill factors more into the outcome than just about any other venue within the sport.
“The biggest thing about Martinsville is the amount of off-throttle time that you have here is greater than the amount of time on-throttle that you have here,” Busch said. “Being able to put together lift techniques and braking techniques and how to utilize the speed of the car without trying to go fast. You’re trying to go fast, but you’re trying to do it while slowing down.
“I’ve never been very good at slowing down.”
Having finally won a championship required Busch to reassess his goals over the offseason. Chiefly, he wants to win on all 22 tracks that comprise the Sprint Cup schedule.
And now possessing victories on all but three — Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Pocono Raceway — the 30-year-old enters his prime poised to separate himself from his contemporaries. As a win on every track is something no driver — not Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson or Tony Stewart — has accomplished in NASCAR’s modern era.
“It’s certainly neat to be able to show your diversity and being able to go out there and win at any single style of racetrack that there is,” Busch said. “I think that just shows talent and obviously, too, you’ve got great people behind you.”
Busch’s strong desire to win and the frequency which he does so tends to manifest itself in ways that draws the ire of NASCAR’s fan base. While loudly cheered upon initially returning last season, it wasn’t long before Busch was again greeted with resounding boos during driver introductions.
With age comes maturity and Busch has gotten better about ignoring the detractors, more mindful what he says publicly and resisting the urge to lash out. Occasionally, however, there are lapses.
As he sped underneath the checkered flag Sunday he keyed the mic and radioed to his team, “Time for all you haters to shut up.” And NASCAR reprimanded its reigning champion with a $10,000 fine when he refused to speak to the media following a bitter second-place finish in the March 19 Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway.
But love him or hate him, there is no denying Busch’s immense talent. Considering his youth and propensity for winning (35 premier division victories), it’s a near given he will soon become the 13th driver to join the NASCAR’s 50-win club — the sport’s equivalent of 3,000 hits in baseball or 500 goals in hockey.
Also not out of the realm of possibility is that Busch one day surpasses David Pearson’s 105 wins. To do so would mean Busch would rank second all-time, with only Richard Petty’s unassailable mark of 200 wins ahead.
“Certainly I’d like to think that we can score 100 wins,” Busch said. “Hell, I’d love to have 200, but we know that’s probably not going to happen.
“With the competition level the way it is today, man, it’s hard to win a Cup Series race. It’s hard to win a Cup Series championship. But we’ve done those things now 35 times, we’ll continue to go down our ways and see if we can’t get more.”
It all may seem grandiose and somewhat far-fetched, except it really isn’t. Busch’s talent and ability to win is transcendent and in all likelihood when he calls it a career, his name will have a prominent place in the NASCAR record book.
