With Busch out, victory odds increase for field

While at home recovering, Busch has been a steady contributor on Twitter and Instagram. His wife Samantha is expecting the couple’s first child, a son, next month and Busch has posted photos of himself assembling car seats and baby strollers from his own wheelchair. He’s even used social media to keep up with work for his Kyle Busch Foundation.

For Easter, his fans got a huge treat when he posted a photo of himself and Samantha wishing everyone: “From our family to yours, Happy Easter.” The couple was standing up, no wheelchair and no cast for Busch.

From our family to yours, Happy Easter. pic.twitter.com/qBS8vIIf8I

— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) April 5, 2015

What Busch has not been doing the past two months is hoisting trophies and for his competitors in all three of NASCAR’s national series’ that’s equivalent to a huge spring head start.

His Joe Gibbs Racing team has purposely not given a date for Busch’s return yet, instead giving their marquee driver all the time he needs to heal correctly and confidently.

But as soon as Busch is back in his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota, few doubt it will be only a matter of time before he wins again. And if NASCAR grants a medical waiver, as it has done in the past, it will likely take only one trophy to put Busch back in the 2015 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoff field.

Busch, 29, already has 29 victories and has won at least one race all 10 years he has been a full-time Sprint Cup driver. His combined 141 wins as a driver since 2004 in NASCAR’s three national series is simply unrivaled.

Busch’s absence from the sport is obviously unintentional, regretful and sad.

But the practical side for his competitors is that no Kyle Busch on the grid means an extra opportunity to win – one less, highly formidable driver.

Consider this: In the last five seasons, Busch has combined for seven Sprint Cup Series victories before his May 2 birthday. His early season tally includes over 2,600 laps led during February-May from 2010-2014.

In 2011, for example, he had two wins plus six top-fives and seven top-10 finishes in the first 11 races and led 797 laps. In 2013, he had a pair of wins – including a victory from the pole position at this week’s stop, Texas Motor Speedway – and five consecutive top-five efforts in the season’s opening 11 races. And he led 740 laps.

Busch’s spring statistics in the XFINITY are equally as impressive.

In the past two years, he has totaled six XFINITY Series wins before May 1. In 2013, he had six top-three finishes – including four wins –in the first seven races he competed in before May and led 534 laps or 38 percent of all laps possible in those races.

In the Camping World Truck Series, Busch’s spring time numbers are simply stellar.

Last year, Busch entered four races before June winning every one – including three from the pole position and led an unbelievable 409 of the 601 laps or 68 percent of the laps in those four races. He made it five straight wins by picking up a summer victory in June at Kentucky when he won from the pole.


In 2013, Busch competed in five of the first eight races on the schedule with two wins and a runner-up finish (Daytona).

Yet for all Busch’s amazing accomplishments in the spring, the truth is he’s good all the way around the calendar – good news for his quest to still qualify for the 2015 Chase, bad news for his competitors who know they will soon have to be dealing with one of the sport’s all-time winningest drivers. And no one wants it any other way.

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