Coming off his most difficult racing season to date, Kyle Busch enters the 2025 NASCAR season striving for redemption in the forms of both return to Victory Lane and the Playoffs that would enable him to contend for a third Cup Series championship. As a new season looms from officially commencing at Daytona International Speedway, the 2025 campaign also presents another opportunity for Busch to claim the lone prestigious event that is missing from his trophy case and has eluded him for nearly two decades: the Daytona 500.
With Busch primed for a first victory in the season-opening event, he will pursue his goal while achieving a significant milestone start in the event. By competing in this year’s 67th running of the 500, the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing (RCR) Chevrolet will make his 20th start in the Great American Race.
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Busch’s first Daytona 500 start occurred in 2005, the year where he campaigned in the Cup Series on a full-time basis. Driving the No. 5 Chevrolet entry for Hendrick Motorsports, he started 19th and finished 38th after he was involved in a five-car wreck just past the Lap 25 mark. He improved his result to 23rd place during the 48th Daytona 500 in 2006.
The following three seasons each presented opportunities for Busch to achieve his first Daytona 500 victory. In 2007, Busch, who was initially racing behind Mark Martin in second place before he got overtaken by Kevin Harvick through the backstretch, was battling Matt Kenseth for third place when they both got sideways entering the frontstretch and were involved in an accident that dropped Busch to 24th place in the final running order. The following season, Busch, who was piloting the No. 18 Toyota entry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), led a race-high 86 laps and finished in fourth place. Then in 2009, he led a race-high 88 laps until he was involved in a multi-car accident on the backstretch with 72 laps remaining and ended up in 41st place.
From 2010 to 2014, Busch started as high as fourth place, which occurred in 2013, and finished as high as eighth, which occurred in 2011 in a year where he rallied from spinning amid contact with Michael Waltrip on the fourth lap and pitting prior to the final two-lap shootout. Busch was then absent from competing in the 2015 Daytona 500 due to being diagnosed with a compound fracture in his lower right leg and a small fracture in his left foot. The injuries were due to Busch being involved in a late vicious accident during the Xfinity Series’ season-opening event at Daytona, where he hit the inside concrete wall head-on that was equipped with no SAFER barriers and required medical assistance as he was then transported to Halifax Medical Center for further evaluation. Despite the injuries, Busch would recover to return to competition in May and proceed to claim his first Cup Series championship.
Entering the 2016 Cup Series season as the reigning driver’s champion, Busch kickstarted his title defense season by winning the second Duel event. He then finished in third place during the 58th Daytona 500 behind JGR teammate Denny Hamlin and Toyota teammate Martin Truex Jr. The following season, he led 18 laps and won the first stage period before a flat-rear tire during the second stage period sent Busch sideways and wrecked against the Turn 3 outside wall along with Toyota teammates Erik Jones and Matt Kenseth, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Ty Dillon also being involved. Relegated to a 38th-place finish during the 2017 season, Busch then settled in 25th place during the 60th Daytona 500 after he blew a tire, spun, was hit by DJ Kennington and finished seven laps behind the leaders.
In 2019, Busch achieved his career-best result in the Daytona 500 by finishing in second place behind teammate Denny Hamlin despite leading 37 laps and being part of a historic 1-2-3 finish for JGR that also included Erik Jones. The following season, he led 14 laps and was in contention for the victory until he got shoved out of the draft by Joey Logano with 19 laps remaining. Not long after, his engine expired and he retired in 34th place. After being involved in a vicious final-lap accident that strapped him with a 14th-place finish during the 2021 Daytona 500, he rallied from being involved in an early multi-car wreck in 2022 by finishing in sixth place, the latter of which would mark his final 500 start with JGR.
Beginning in 2023, Busch transitioned to Richard Childress Racing (RCR) to pilot the No. 8 Chevrolet entry. Despite scraping the wall in the early stages of the 65th Daytona 500, he received a draft from teammate Austin Dillon to overtake the drafting duo of Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher to assume the lead with four laps remaining. He then retained the lead over the next two laps before a late caution for Daniel Suarez spinning sent the event into overtime. After losing teammate Dillon to a 13-car wreck during the first overtime attempt, Busch was then involved in a nine-car wreck on the final lap during the second and final overtime attempt as he ended up in 19th place. He has since recorded a 12th-place result during his latest Daytona 500 start in 2024.
Through 19 previous starts in the Daytona 500, Busch has recorded three top-five results, five top-10 results, 342 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.7. A victory in 2025 would make Busch the 44th competitor overall to win the Great American Race, a list that includes his older brother Kurt, and he would deliver the first Daytona 500 victory for RCR since teammate Austin Dillon made the last accomplishment in 2018. A Daytona 500 victory would also allow Busch to achieve a Grand Slam in NASCAR’s crown-jewel events as he previously won the Southern 500, Brickyard 400 and Coca-Cola 600.
Ironically, Busch, who enters the 2025 Daytona 500 making his 20th attempt to win the event, will strive to become the first competitor to win the Great American Race in a 20th attempt since the late seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt made the last accomplishment in 1998.
This week, Busch, who finished in 20th place in the 2024 driver’s standings, will participate in a single-car qualifying session on Wednesday, February 12, and in one of two Duel events on Thursday, February 13, to determine his starting lineup for this year’s Daytona 500. The qualifying session on Wednesday will begin airing at 8:15 p.m. ET on FS1 while the Duels will begin airing at 7 p.m. ET on FS1.
The 2025 Daytona 500 is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, February 16, with a starting broadcast time of 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
