NASCAR
Can Kurt Busch Keep Momentum Going at New Hampshire?
Just one week ago Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series veteran Kurt Busch made his return to victory lane. Busch was able to out-duel his younger brother Kyle in a thrilling finish at Kentucky Speedway. Now this week, Busch will look to continue that wave of momentum at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. However, there is certainly no guarantee for a positive outcome on Sunday for Busch. Throughout his storied career, nothing has ever been certain for him at this track. It has been feast or famine for Kurt Busch at New Hampshire.
Kurt Busch’s Up-and-Down History at Loudon
When you take a glance at the stats for Busch at NHMS, it becomes clear how hot-or-cold he is at the venue. In his career, he has 35 starts at the North Eastern track. He has an average start of 11.3 with an average finish of 16.0. Those seem like pretty standard numbers, but Kurt has tallied up 15 top 10s, 8 top-5s, and 3 wins at The Magic Mile. Busch also has 1 pole to his credit, and has notched a total of 635 laps led. To go along with those numbers Busch has also finished outside of the top 30 six times in his career. This only furthers the feast-or-famine narrative for him at Loudon. Kurt has not won at NHMS since 2008, which also shows his inconsistency on the flat mile.
So with that being said the only way to gauge how to expect him to run on Sunday is by the weekend’s practice. On Friday, Busch was 15th fastest in first practice and qualified 3rd later that evening. The more important day, however, was Saturday. On Saturday Busch was 21st in 1-lap speed but had a big jump to 12th in 10-lap average on the first practice of the day. The same went for Saturday’s second practice as he was 14th and 7th respectively. So with those being the numbers, fans shouldn’t expect short-run speed from Busch. Instead, expect him to come on later in the run. It could be a day of feast rather than famine for Kurt Busch at New Hampshire.
Written by Conor Borus
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Photo credit to NASCARMedia.
