SPARTA, Ky. – Saddled with his fourth consecutive finish outside the top 30, defending Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch is looking forward to a brief break before the series heads to Sonoma Raceway in two weeks.
On Sunday, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver placed last in the 40-car field competing in the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway. He had completed only 52 of the race's 200 laps when engine issues sidelined the No. 18 Toyota.
Monday, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was here at Kentucky Speedway, participating in a two-day organizational test with 13 other Sprint Cup drivers.
"We get to have a couple of weeks here to try and regroup and try to change our luck somehow," Busch said during a break in testing. "I wish there was a store I could buy some because I'm certainly out."
Busch missed the first 11 races of the 2015 season due to injury, but returned to win five times en route to capturing his first Sprint Cup championship.
That success seemed to carry over, as the team opened the '16 season with four consecutive top-five finishes. He won three times in the first 11 races.
But since his victory at Kansas Speedway last month, the fortunes of driver and team have soured. He finished 30th at Dover, 33rd at Charlotte and 31st at Pocono before the Michigan mishap.
The former points leader has tumbled from the top to ninth in the standings after 15 races.
If running well and winning races can provide a team with momentum, then running poorly can drag a team down as well.
"It can, depending on the strength and camaraderie within that team," Busch said. That hasn't been the case with his group, led by crew chief Adam Stevens.
"When we started the season, we had really good races, we had a bad one, we bounced right back," he said. "… So we can do it. It's just a matter of trying to get out of the funk. …
"We're either top four or bottom four. That's just where we’ve been this year. That's kind of the discrepancy we see in our finishes. But our cars are fast, we're competitive each week, we can run up front. I know we can do this; we can pass cars."
In 15 starts Busch has nine top-five finishes. In the other six races, he has finished 25th or worse.
That his team can win races isn't a concern. But for now Busch simply wants to be around at the end of them.
"My mindset right now, and it was at Michigan, was 'we just need to finish this race,'" he said. "I don't care where we finish. If we finish 25th, that’s a start. That's a start in the right direction. But we couldn't even do that on Sunday.
"Certainly I still feel that same way. Going to Sonoma, we just need to be able to get out of that race with all four fenders on it and be able to finish that event. Start progressing our way toward the front where we know we can be.
"If we go out and win Sonoma, then we may just say that the curse is over, whatever it might be."
Busch is the defending race winner of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma. This year's race is scheduled for Sunday, June 26 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).