2021 season in review: Kyle Busch – NASCAR

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Editor’s Note: This continues the series of season reviews for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers.

Driver: Kyle Busch
Car: No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry
Crew chief: Ben Beshore
Final 2021 ranking: 9th
Key stats: 2 wins, 14 top fives, 22 top 10s, 334 laps led

How 2021 ended:
Busch finished runner-up at Martinsville Speedway in the season’s penultimate race and missed qualifying for the Championship 4 by just three points. Busch earned three top fives in the final seven races of 2021, but a 28th-place finish at Kansas Speedway after suffering multiple tire failures set the No. 18 team behind in Busch’s chase for a third championship.

Best race:
Nobody led more laps during the Pocono Raceway doubleheader this year than Busch, whose 60 total laps led over the two races bested Alex Bowman’s 34. But Busch’s Sunday drive was perhaps his drive of the year.

Midway through the race, Busch suffered a transmission issue that limited him to only fourth gear, making his pit exit remarkably slower than his competitors since he had to burn up his clutch trying not to stall the car. The 350-mile race then became a game of fuel mileage, another disadvantage for Busch who couldn’t use his clutch to save fuel.

That didn’t matter. Busch somehow still found a way to conserve just enough fuel on the final run of the race to claim the checkered flag at Pocono, one day after finishing second to Bowman.

RELATED: All of Kyle Busch’s Cup Series wins

Additional highlights:

• In addition to his win at Pocono, Busch also visited Victory Lane at Kansas Speedway in May on his 36th birthday.

• Busch also found himself in yet another battle for the win against older brother Kurt Busch at Atlanta Motor Speedway in July. Kyle led a season-high 91 laps that day, but Ross Chastain hindered him late with 25 laps remaining, allowing his teammate, Kurt, to rally past Kyle for the victory while “Rowdy” finished second.

•Kyle Busch’s season was dotted with several notable performances, a significant turnaround after a 2020 that found the No. 18 largely inconsistent despite similar statistics. Fast cars and elite talent resulted in strong top-five runs at the Coca-Cola 600, Watkins Glen International and the Martinsville playoff race.

Stat to know:
Thanks to his Kansas triumph, Busch became just the second driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win more than once on his birthday. The only other driver to do so multiple times was Cale Yarborough. Additionally, Busch has now won at least once in each of the last 17 seasons, tying David Pearson for second-most consecutive years with a win all-time. No. 1 on that list is Richard Petty with 18, a record Busch can tie in 2022.

RELATED: All-time drivers: Consecutive years with a win

Quotable:
“[Brad Keselowski] drills my [expletive] coming out of (Turn 4) for no reason. Where was he going? What was he doing? He was trying to do a (Kevin) Harvick is what he was gonna do. For what? For second place? To do what? He wasn’t going to transfer though with that. … So stupid. I don’t understand these guys. I should beat the [expletive] out of him right now is what I should do. But that doesn’t do me any good either.” — Busch on contact from Brad Keselowski coming to the checkered flag at Martinsville on Oct. 31

Looking ahead:
Busch remains the Cup Series’ lone active multiple-time champion with titles in 2015 and 2019. In the five seasons from 2015-19, Busch won at least four races per season. The last two years have brought just three victories, though.

As he prepares for a new chapter in the Next Gen car, Busch will look to rekindle a Championship 4 run, a feat he very nearly achieved in 2021.

Source: https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2021/12/15/2021-season-in-review-kyle-busch/