All Of Busch’s Wins May Go For Naught If He Misses Chase
As difficult as it may seem to believe, one of the two winningest drivers thus far this season has a very realistic chance of not making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
That’s right, following Sunday night’s Pep Boys 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch – who is tied with Mark Martin with four wins each, tops in the Cup series – saw his Chase hopes fade even more.
Busch came into the race in 13th place. He left Atlanta in 14th place, 37 points behind 12th-ranked Matt Kenseth and 17 points behind Brian Vickers, who jumped ahead of Busch and into 13th spot.
Busch now has just one chance left to make the Chase: Saturday’s final qualifying race at Richmond. But with his back against the wall, he has just one task: to win. Anything else would likely leave him falling short.
Unfortunately, even a win is no guarantee he’ll make the Chase. It’s the sad reality of where Busch sits in the standings right now.
And it continues a trend of sorts. Even though Busch has won 35 combined races over the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Trucks series since the start of the 2008 season, he’s fallen woefully short when it has counted the most.
Last year, he made the Chase, but ended it in 12th – last place, that is. Many critics and non-Busch fans claimed and Busch choked during last year’s Chase.
Those same critics and non-fans are likely taking great pleasure in the fact Busch is on the precipice of what would appear to be yet another choke this year, further enhancing Busch’s reputation among his detractors as a guy who can win a lot of races, but can’t win when it matters most.
Of course, if Busch fails to make this year’s Chase, he may have some consolation of sorts. When former teammate Tony Stewart failed to make the Chase in 2006 after winning his second Cup championship the year before, Stewart went on to win three of that season’s Chase races, stealing a great deal of thunder from not only the playoff participants, but to a certain degree the first of Jimmie Johnson’s three consecutive championships.
So even if he misses the Chase, Busch could very well become the spoiler for Johnson winning his fourth consecutive Cup title, or may be the guy that stands in the way of someone else winning the championship other than Johnson – like maybe Stewart, who is currently leading the points – well, at least until Saturday’s race at Richmond, before the standings are revised based upon wins.
If only young Kyle been just a bit more consistent this season, he’d have started the Chase in either first or second – after all, being tied with Martin for most wins in the series, each with four victories apiece, would have put them 1-2 when the Chase began – rather than Busch likely missing it altogether.
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