The quest for 20-straight winning seasons is ongoing for Kyle Busch — but his Richard Childress Racing team showed it might be getting closer in Michigan.
After running in the top 10 for a good chunk of the race, Busch parlayed a two-tire strategy during his final stop in Stage 3 into a fourth-place finish in Monday’s FireKeepers Casino 400, earning his first top-five since Dover Motor Speedway in April.
It was a much-needed result for the driver and team, ending a torrid streak of difficult weekends dating back to Darlington Raceway in May. At the time Busch was 12th in points and looked like a playoff contender, but a stretch of 11 races with a 24.0 average finish — including five DNFs — saw the two-time champion drop to 18th in the standings and well out of playoff reach without a win.
Monday’s two-tire call was made to give Busch a shot at a victory. He’s won at least one Cup race in every season dating back to 2005. For a moment, it looked like Busch might just continue the streak. He emerged with the net lead after the short stop, narrowly leading William Byron and Tyler Reddick. But Busch couldn’t hold on, losing the top spot before pit stops cycled through and fading into the back of the top five.
“I wish I’d came out with about an eight-second lead,” Busch joked. “That might have helped a little bit. We didn’t quite have that gap.”
The Nevadan ultimately took advantage of the double-overtime finish to rise back to fourth, paying off a solid weekend for his team with one of its best finishes of the year. It wasn’t a perfect weekend, but was easily the best the No. 8 team’s looked in months.