Will new crew chief help 'Rowdy' reach Victory Lane again in 2015?
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Team: Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota
Rank in final 2014 standings: 10th
Wins: 1 (Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California)
Year in photos: Busch's 2014 highlights
Strides: Busch won at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race for the 10th consecutive year, and qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup for the seventh time in his career. His win at ACS was his third at the two-mile venue. His third-place finish at Kansas was his best result for that 1.5-mile track, while a runner-up finish at Indianapolis equaled his best previous effort there.
Five consecutive top-10 finishes, including top-fives at Kansas and Charlotte, to open the Chase kept Busch, 29, in the thick of the title battle.
"It came down to a pit stop," Busch said of the Auto Club victory, "and my guys hammered out an awesome stop, got us good track position for the final (stop). We won the race holding off a hungry, talented rookie (Kyle Larson). That was a great highlight and it got us in the Chase."
Setbacks: Second in points heading into the Chase race at Talladega, Busch saw his title hopes disappear when he was collected in an 11-car incident that sent his No. 18 Toyota to the garage for an extended stay and resulted in a 40th-place finish.
"The only other way to run the race would be just to run up front with everybody and if there's a wreck that happens hopefully it takes enough of the guys out that you’re racing against in points that your points will be enough to beat the ... those guys that got crashed," Busch said.
For the season, Busch led only 453 laps, fewest for the Las Vegas native since 2005.
Quote-worthy: "We just need to improve in sheer speed; our cars need to turn better. We haven't been able to go through the center of the corner as fast as some of these other guys and why that is we're really not sure."
What's next: Former XFINITY Series crew chef Adam Stevens takes over the helm of the No. 18 team, replacing Dave Rogers as crew chief. Stevens has 31 victories as crew chief, including 19 with Busch in 2013-14.
"The relationship we've had over the last year (has) gone really well; we've won lots of races and been competitive," Busch said of Stevens. "I think that (XFINITY Series) level (of competition) is obviously a lot less than at Sprint Cup level but still I think he's got a good repertoire within the shop and with his guys. When you can have all that, there's no better thing than to try and move that guy up."
Although there may be some growing pains inside JGR with the addition of a fourth Sprint Cup team (fielded for driver Carl Edwards), Busch said the expansion can be a positive for the organization overall.
"Having Carl come aboard is going to be great for the team," he said. "He's obviously gotten some (good) results in years past; I look forward to working with him, but also having a bunch of new people at JGR and getting the engineering department all ramped up (to) make us more competitive, a stronger team and a force to be reckoned with."