NASCAR
Regular Season Champion Kyle Busch Hopes to Kick Off Postseason with Hometown Victory
2019’s version of the NASCAR Playoffs are set to start this Sunday at Las Vegas. With 16 drivers entering the 10-week fight for the championship, their first challenge will be the 1.5 mile circuit in Sin City. Despite no wins here in over a decade, Kyle Busch should be a strong threat for a hometown win. The Regular Season Champion may just have a few tricks up his sleeve for his home turf. The 18 also boasts a streak of consistency at Las Vegas in recent history.
Busch’s Las Vegas Stats
In 16 career starts at Las Vegas, Kyle Busch has 1 win, 5 top 5s, 9 top 10s, 254 laps led, and an average finish of 12.2. Rowdy’s lone Vegas win came back in 2009, in the wake of an 8-win debut season at Joe Gibbs Racing. Since then however, Busch’s record at his hometown track has been hit-or-miss. In the 10 Las Vegas races after his win, Busch has 5 top 10s, as well as 4 finishes worse than 15th. In spite of Busch’s up-and-down luck at his home track, he has an active streak of 3 top 10s. This includes the race in March where he finished 3rd behind Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. If not for a mid-race pit road speeding penalty, Busch may have ended that day in victory lane.
A Much-Needed Reset For Busch
Although Kyle Busch enters the Playoffs as the #1 seed, he needs to regain some momentum. The past month has been far below Busch’s standards, with no victories since Pocono back in June. Last week at Indianapolis, Busch scored his worst 2019 result in 37th after an engine expiration. This was also his first DNF of the season, as he’s earned 21 top 10s through 26 races.
So can this weekend see Busch return to his winning form in his hometown? He certainly think so, as he told PRN’s Garage Pass on Playoff media day. “(I’ve) been able to win here once in my career, but we come out here twice now,” Busch said. “We were really fast here in the spring, could have-should have won the race if it wasn’t for speeding on pit road. Hopefully this time around we’ll keep it clean and have a shot to win again.”
Can Kyle Busch capture another hometown win in Vegas? Be sure to tune into NBCSN at 7 Pm EST on Sunday to see Busch and the other Playoff contenders kick start their 10 week battle. One thing is for certain, the South Point 400 will be the first stepping stone towards one driver’s championship.
Written by Peter Stratta
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