As the NASCAR Cup Series makes a historic return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval-shaped circuit for the Brickyard 400 after three years of competing on the circuit’s road-course layout, Kyle Busch is set to achieve a milestone start of his own. By competing in this weekend’s Brickyard 400, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch made his inaugural presence in the Cup Series at his home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in March 2004. By then, he had made seven career starts in the Craftsman Truck Series and 10 in the Xfinity Series as he was also contending in the latter series for Hendrick Motorsports. Driving the No. 84 Chevrolet for HMS, Busch started 18th and finished 41st in his Cup debut after retiring early following an early incident. He made five additional Cup starts throughout the 2004 season and achieved a season-best 24th-place run at Auto Club Speedway in September.
The following season, Busch graduated to a full-time Cup role in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, where he replaced two-time series champion Terry Labonte as Labonte retired from full-time competition. After finishing 38th in his first Daytona 500 career start at Daytona International Speedway, Busch notched his first Cup career pole position at Auto Club in February, where he ended up in 23rd place, before he recorded a runner-up finish behind teammate Jimmie Johnson and in front of older brother, Kurt Busch, at Las Vegas in March. Throughout his next 21 starts, Kyle Busch recorded a total of seven top-10 results, including another runner-up result at Dover Motor Speedway in June. Then at Auto Club in September, he capitalized on a two-lap shootout to score his first Cup career win in his 31st series start and become the youngest winner in series’ history at age 20 years, four months and two days. Despite missing the 2005 Cup Playoffs, Busch would notch another runner-up result at Dover in September before capturing his second Cup career victory at Phoenix Raceway in November following a late duel against Greg Biffle. With a 20th-place finish in the final standings to coincide with nine top-five results, 13 top-10 results 362 laps led and an average-finishing result of 21.0, Busch captured the 2005 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.
Busch would remain as the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the following two Cup seasons. During the two-year span, he claimed one victory per season and made the Playoffs during both seasons. In 2006, he won at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July amid a two-lap shootout and recorded one pole, 10 top-five results, 18 top-10 results, 571 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.5 before settling in 10th place in the final standings. The following season, he fended off a hard-charging Jeff Burton to win at Bristol Motor Speedway in March and record the first victory for the Car of Tomorrow stock car as he also recorded the 200th NASCAR national touring series victory for Hendrick Motorsports and the 600th in the Cup circuit for Chevrolet. Busch would proceed to record 11 top-five results, 20 top-10 results, 637 laps led and an average-finishing result of 14.1 throughout the 2007 campaign before boosting to fifth place in the final standings. By then, he surpassed 100 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series.
In June 2007, Busch was announced of his departure from Hendrick Motorsports at season’s conclusion, where he would be replaced by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Two months later, he announced his move to Joe Gibbs Racing to pilot the No. 18 Toyota Camry for the 2008 Cup season. Throughout the 26 regular-season stretch, Busch’s move to JGR made both the driver and team a lethal combination for the competition that commenced with top-four finishes through the first three-scheduled events. Then at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, the Las Vegas native led a race-high 173 laps en route to his first Cup victory of the season and first driving for JGR as he also recorded the first Cup Series win for the Toyota nameplate. Five races later, Busch rallied from losing a lap and nearly getting collected in an incident with Jamie McMurray to assume the lead with five laps remaining and retain the top spot prior to a multi-car wreck on the final lap to claim his second victory of the season at Talladega Superspeedway in May. Busch’s early hot streak extended throughout the regular-season stretch as he claimed victories at Darlington Raceway in May Dover Motor Speedway, Sonoma Raceway in June, Daytona, Chicagoland Speedway in July and at Watkins Glen International in August. To go along with a total of 17 top-10 results, Busch secured his spot into the 2008 Cup Playoffs as he also earned the top seed in his bid to win his first title. Throughout the Playoffs, however, Busch’s title hopes evaporated as he commenced the Playoffs with a 34th-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September after plummeting from first place and being involved an early multi-car wreck followed by a last-place finish during the following event at Dover after his engine expired. Despite recording four top-10 results during the final eight events on the schedule, he could only climb his way up to 10th place in the final standings. Amid his early exit in the championship bid, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 21 top-10 results, 1,673 laps led and an average-finishing result of 12.5 in his first season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Poised for another title bid in 2009, Busch commenced the season by finishing in 41st place in the 51st running of the Daytona 500 after being involved in a late multi-car wreck despite leading a race-high 88 laps. He would rally by finishing third at Auto Club before notching his first victory of the season at Las Vegas in an event where he rallied from starting at the rear of the field. Two races later, he won at Bristol for the second time in his career after leading a race-high 378 laps before collecting his third victory of the season at Richmond Raceway five races later in May, the latter victory making Busch the second competitor to win on a birthday date.
Busch would then endure a difficult summer stretch as he would only record three top-10 finishes in 13 events, results that eventually dropped him below the top-12 cutline to make the 2009 Playoffs. Despite claiming his fourth victory of the season at Bristol in August following a late battle with Mark Martin, Busch would end up 13th and fifth, respectively, during the final two regular-season events of the season, which resulted in him missing the Playoffs by eight points.
He would proceed to finish in the top 10 four times during the final 10 events on the schedule before settling in 13th place in the final standings. By then, Busch only earned half the total victories accumulated from the previous season (four) along with eight less top-five (nine) and top-10 (13) results as he capped off the season with an average-finishing result of 15.3 and 1,157 total laps led.
Busch would return to the Playoffs in 2010 as he claimed three victories throughout the regular-season stretch, starting at Richmond in May followed by Dover two races later and then at Bristol in August as part of his historic NASCAR top three national touring series sweep. Amid the three races where he was victorious, he racked up a total of 13 top-10 results. With four top-10 results recorded throughout the 2010 Cup Playoffs, Busch ended up in eighth place in the final standings as he also surpassed 200 Cup career starts. The following season, he would rack up four victories throughout the regular-season stretch (Bristol in March, Richmond in May, Kentucky Speedway in July and at Michigan International Speedway in August) along with 16 top-10 results. Then after recording only two top-10 results throughout the first seven Playoff events, including a strong runner-up result at Charlotte Motor Speedway in October, Busch was suspended from competing in the Cup Playoff event at Texas Motor Speedway in November following his actions during the Truck Series event at Texas two days earlier, where he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. under caution at full speed. Returning for the final two events on the schedule, where he finished 36th and 23rd, respectively, Busch ended up in 12th place in the final standings. With seven victories recorded throughout the two-year span, which accumulated his wins total to 23, he also achieved three poles, 24 top-five results, 36 top-10 results, 2,726 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 15.
The 2012 Cup Series season initially commenced with a hot start for Busch as he rallied from two near spins to edge reigning three-time champion Tony Stewart by 0.013 seconds to win the non-points Budweiser Shootout at Daytona in February. After recording three top-10 results during the first eight events on the schedule, Busch claimed his first points victory of the season at Richmond after muscling away from the field during a nine-lap shootout. Despite finishing in the top four during his next three starts, he would then finish in the top 10 only three additional times during the following 13 events as he was left battling within the cutline to make the Playoffs. Despite notching back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Bristol and Atlanta between August and September that kept him within the cutline, Busch ended up in 16th place during the regular-season finale at Richmond, which left him three points below the cutline and out of the Playoffs for the first time since 2009. With his championship hopes of the season evaporated, Busch concluded the 2012 campaign on a strong note by finishing in the top seven in eight of the remaining 10 events before settling in 13th place in the final standings.
In the early stages of the 2013 Cup Series season, Busch finished in the top five twice during the first four-scheduled events before capitalizing on a last-lap skirmish involving teammate Denny Hamlin and ex-teammate Joey Logano to claim his first victory at Auto Club in March and deliver the first Auto Club Speedway win for both Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. Two races later, Busch achieved his second victory of the season at Texas in April, which marked his 300th Cup career start as he joined Ned Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Kasey Kahne as competitors to win on the milestone start. Despite recording eight top-10 results during his next 14 starts, Busch would record his third victory of the season at Watkins Glen in August following a late duel against Brad Keselowski before winning for the fourth time of the year at Atlanta in September, victories that enabled him to clinch his spot into the Playoffs. With a total of five top-five results and seven top-10 results recorded throughout the Playoffs, Busch settled in fourth place in the final standings. By then, he recorded three additional top fives (16) and two additional top 10s (22) compared to his previous season. Despite leading 209 less laps (1,227) compared to the previous season, Busch boosted his final average-finishing result from 13.3 to 12.7.
Like the 2013 season, Busch emerged victorious for the first time in 2014 at Auto Club, the fifth event on the schedule, amid a two-lap shootout that resulted with the driver of the No. 18 JGR Toyota navigating his way from fifth to first, which kept his winning streak in the Cup Series alive to 10 consecutive years. To go along with a total of nine top-10 results, including three runner-up results, throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, he made the Playoffs for a seventh time. Despite transferring from the Playoff’s Round of 16 to 12 amid three consecutive top-10 results followed by two top-five runs during the first two Round of 12 events, Busch’s title hopes came to a crashing end during the Round of 8 finale at Talladega in October after he was involved in a late multi-car wreck and could only salvage his way up to 40th place in the final running order, which prevented him from advancing past the Round of 12. Managing only a single top-five finish during the final four-scheduled events, Busch ended up in 10th place in the final standings for the fourth time of his career and with an average-finishing result of 17.6 amid a total of 15 top-10 results.
The 2015 season was a breakthrough year for Busch that commenced with the driver potentially having his racing career ending following a harrowing accident during the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona in February that resulted with the driver hitting head-on into a concrete wall and suffering both a massive compound fracture in his right leg and a minor fracture to his left foot. With the injuries causing Busch to miss the first 11 events on the schedule, he made his return at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the All-Star Race in May, where he ended up sixth. Needing at least one victory and enough garnered points to remain above the top-30 cutline in the standings that would guarantee him in Playoff contention as part of his medical waiver by NASCAR, Busch finished no higher than ninth in his first four races back in contention before accomplishing his first feat: a victory that occurred at Sonoma in June, which marked his 30th victory in the Cup Series and extended his winning streak to 11 seasons.
Despite finishing 17th during the next event at Daytona, Busch notched three consecutive victories at Kentucky, New Hampshire and Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Managing four top-10 results, including two runner-up results, throughout the final six regular-season events in 2015, Busch was able to climb his way inside the top-30 cutline and make the Playoffs. Utilizing consistency throughout the Playoffs in the form of five top-five results and six top-10 results, he proceeded to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 round at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. Then during the finale, Busch capitalized on a seven-lap restart to overtake Keselowski and fend off title rival Kevin Harvick to win both the finale and his first Cup Series championship. With the title occurring in his 11th season in competition, Busch became the 31st different competitor to win a championship in NASCAR’s premier series as he also delivered the first Cup title for Toyota and the fourth for Joe Gibbs Racing. In total, he accumulated five victories, one pole, 12 top-five results, 16 top-10 results, 736 laps led and an average-finishing result of 10.8 in 25 starts, which made him the first competitor to win a championship despite not competing in every scheduled event since Richard Petty made the last accomplishment in 1971.
Commencing the 2016 Cup season as the reigning champion, Busch recorded four top-five finishes during the first five-scheduled events before notching back-to-back victories at Martinsville Speedway and at Texas in April. Four races later, he notched his third Cup victory of the season at Kansas Speedway in May before winning at Indianapolis for a second consecutive season nine races later. To coincide with 16 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch, Busch made the Playoffs for a ninth time. Implementing consistency throughout the Playoffs, he finished in the top eight in eight of the first nine Playoff events, which enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 and back into the Championship 4 round for a second consecutive season. During the finale, however, Busch, who made a late pit stop, could only climb his way up to sixth place on the track, which resulted in him settling in third place in the final standings. Despite falling two spots short of defending his title, Busch concluded the 2016 campaign on a strong note with four victories, two poles, 17 top-five results, 25 top-10 results, 1,379 laps led and an average-finishing result of 11.5. By then, he also surpassed 400 Cup career starts.
The following two Cup seasons would feature Busch making competitive championship runs as he notched multiple victories and transferred all the way to the Championship 4 round. In 2017, Busch endured the first 20-scheduled events winless before notching his first victory at Pocono Raceway in July. In the midst of the winless streak, he achieved his first All-Star Race win at Charlotte in May, which marked his 12th attempt of winning the event’s million dollar prize. Busch would proceed to win at Bristol in August as part of his second triple series weekend sweep before winning the following Playoff events at New Hampshire, Dover and Martinsville. During the finale, however, Busch ended up in the runner-up spot both on the track and in the final standings to Martin Truex Jr. In 2018, Busch achieved a career-high eight victories, which marked his second time achieving the feat since 2008. His victories included winning three consecutive races at Texas, Bristol and Richmond in April before emerging triumphant for the first time at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca-Cola 600 in May. He would then bump and overtake Kyle Larson amid a last-lap skirmish to win at Chicagoland in early July before muscling away from teammate Daniel Suarez during a two-lap shootout to win at Pocono in late July.
Once the Playoffs commenced, Busch, who claimed the 2018 Cup Series regular-season title, would win at Richmond during the Round of 16 and at Phoenix during the Round of 8 finale in November, to which by then, he had made the Championship 4 round for a fourth consecutive season. Ultimately, he would end up in fourth place both during the finale at Homestead and in the final points standings in 2018. During the two-year span, Busch notched 13 victories, bringing his wins total to 51. He also recorded a total of 36 top-five results, 50 top-10 results, 12 poles, with 20,285 laps led and average-finishing results within the top 11, with the 2018 season generating career-high stats in top fives (22), top 10s (28) and average-finishing result (8.3) while the 2017 season generated the most poles (eight) and laps led (2,023) in a season.
For the 2019 season, which marked his 12th season driving for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series, Busch commenced the season by finishing in the runner-up spot during the 61st running of the Daytona 500 before finishing sixth at Atlanta, which marked his 500th Cup career start. Two races later, he secured his first victory of the season at Phoenix in March and backed it up with a dominant win at Auto Club, where he achieved his 200th NASCAR national touring series victory. As Busch proceeded to win at Bristol in April before winning at Pocono in June, he would accumulate a total of 21 top-10 results throughout the 26-race regular-season stretch before qualifying for his 12th appearance in the Playoffs and winning his second consecutive regular-season title. Then after finishing in the top 10 five times throughout the Playoffs that enabled him to transfer from the Round of 16 into the Championship 4 for a fifth consecutive time, Busch led a race-high 120 laps en route to his second Cup Series championship during the finale at Homestead.
With his accomplishment, Busch became the 16th different competitor to achieve multiple Cup Series titles as he also delivered the fifth championship to Joe Gibbs Racing and the third for Toyota. Overall, Busch capped off his second championship season with five victories, one pole, 17 top-five results, 27 top-10 results, 1,582 laps led and an average-finishing result of 8.9.
Compared to the 2019 season, the 2020 Cup Series season generated a difficult season for Busch both during the regular-season stretch and throughout the Playoffs that prevented him from contending for his third series title. Despite recording 11 top-five results and 13 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the 2020 Cup Playoffs, Busch finished no lower than sixth throughout the Round of 16 before transferring into the Round of 12. Then amid respective finishes of sixth, 27th and 30th throughout the Round of 12, he was eliminated from title contention. Busch quickly rallied during the second Round of 8 event by notching his first elusive Cup victory of the season at Texas in October following a late battle against Martin Truex Jr. and having enough fuel to snatch the victory, which extended his winning streak to 16 consecutive seasons. Managing respective finishes of ninth and 11th during the final two events on the schedule, Busch settled in eighth place in the final standings.
In 2021, Busch notched two victories that occurred during the regular-season stretch: the first at Kansas in May as he won on his birthday for a second time and the second at Pocono in July after overtaking teammate Denny Hamlin prior to the final lap while running on fumes with a low gas tank. Amid the victories, he also won the non-points Busch Clash at Daytona in February following a last-lap skirmish involving the reigning champion Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. The pair of victories along with 16 top-10 results throughout the regular-season stretch allowed Busch to make the Playoffs for a 14th season, which he would record five top-10 runs throughout the Playoffs and transferred past the Rounds of 16 and 12 before coming up three points short of transferring into the Championship 4 round, which resulted with the two-time champion settling in ninth place in the final points standings. By then, Busch had recorded a total of 14 top-five results, 22 top-10 results, 334 laps led, an average-finishing result of 12.8 and surpassed 600 Cup career starts.
For the 2022 season, Busch’s lone victory of the season occurred during the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in April, where he capitalized on a final lap incident involving Tyler Reddick and Chase Briscoe to beat Reddick by 0.330 seconds. The victory not only marked Busch’s 60th in NASCAR’s premier series, but it also marked his 18th consecutive season of winning at least one event in a Cup season, a record feat that was also made by Richard Petty. Despite recording a total of 13 top-10 results, including his Bristol Dirt victory, throughout the regular-season stretch that enabled him to make the Playoffs, Busch was eliminated from title contention following respective finishes of 30th, 26th and 34th throughout the Round of 16. Managing four top-10 results throughout the final seven events on the schedule, Busch ended up in 13th place in the final standings in a season where he accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 627 laps led and an average-finishing result of 16.7.
In September 2022, Busch announced his move to Richard Childress Racing to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for the 2023 Cup season, where he replaced the departing Tyler Reddick. The move came amid a termination to Busch’s 15-year partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing due to longtime sponsor Mars, Incorporated departing NASCAR following the 2022 season and JGR unable to secure a primary sponsorship for Busch prior to the 2023 season. After ending up in 19th place during the 65th running of the Daytona 500 while being collected in a final lap, multi-car wreck, Busch achieved his first victory of the season and his first driving for RCR at Auto Club in February, which made him the new holder of the longest winning streak in Cup Series history at 19 consecutive seasons. Eight races later, he dodged a final lap, multi-car wreck to notch his second victory of the season at Talladega in April before grabbing his third Cup win at World Wide Technology Raceway in June, where he led a race-high 121 laps. The three regular-season victories along with a total of 14 top-10 results enabled Busch to make his 16th entrance into the Playoffs. Despite transferring into the Round of 12 amid no finishes lower than 20th throughout the Round of 16, Busch was unable to transfer into the Round of 8 amid respective finishes of 34th, 25th and third throughout the Round of 12. Finishing as high as third for the final four events on the schedule, he concluded his first campaign with RCR in 14th place in the final standings. By then, he had also accumulated a total of 17 top-10 results, 241 laps led and an average-finishing result of 15.0.
This season, Busch has started on pole position once, which occurred at Dover in late April and has finished in the top 10 six times through 21-scheduled events, with his best result being a third-place run at Atlanta in February. With his current average-finishing result being a 19.4, Busch is currently ranked in 18th place in the 2024 regular-season standings and trails the top-16 cutline to make the 2024 Playoffs by 102 points as he also strives to collect his first victory of the 2024 season that would extend his record-setting wins of consecutive seasons to 20.
Through 699 previous Cup starts, Busch has achieved two championships, 63 victories, 34 poles, 248 top-five results, 378 top-10 results, 19,280 laps led and an average finishing result of 14.0. He is set to become the 20th competitor overall to reach 700 career starts in NASCAR’s premier series. Should he win this weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, Busch would become the first competitor to win in a 700th Cup start.
Kyle Busch is scheduled to make his 700th Cup Series career start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the return of the Brickyard 400 on Sunday, July 21. The event’s broadcast time is slated to commence at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
