TALLADEGA, Ala. — Kyle Busch’s streak of success is venturing into treacherous territory. His three-race win string in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series carries this weekend into Talladega Superspeedway, a venue known for its unpredictable nature.
The Alabama high banks have thwarted winning skeins of three or more on three occasions since the track opened for business in 1969. Those snapped streaks belonged to three NASCAR Hall of Famers — Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace — a fact that has Busch’s attention.
“I’ve kind of heard some of the rumblings through the week about some of the guys that have been on streaks of three in a row or four in a row, whatever they’ve been on, they’ve never gone through a plate race to the best of my knowledge,” Busch said Friday at the 2.66-mile track. “It makes for a more challenging time to be able to get that fourth in a row, but also we’ll know how much more rewarding it is when we do get it.”
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Busch, who has won at every track on the Monster Energy Series schedule save for Charlotte Motor Speedway, has prevailed just once at Talladega. That 2008 victory came in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing.
The speedway’s tendency toward upset winners and unpredictable endings presents the biggest threat to a No. 18 team that’s been remarkably consistent this year. Busch has finished in the top 10 in every race this season except for the Daytona 500 opener, which — like Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) — will be run with engine horsepower restrictions.
The event will mark the second superspeedway race this year, with a rules package that eliminates ride heights. Though Busch has plenty of experience on his side, he says there are few measures that drivers can take in preparation for Talladega.
“I think that you just have to be ready for anything,” Busch said. “I don’t know that there’s much that you can kind of work on or study toward or try to figure out that I’m exactly going to do this and it’s going to reward me with something, I think it’s just so much of an unknown.”
Busch’s streak has spanned Texas, Bristol and Richmond in an especially fast-paced spring stretch, but his strength has been a season-long effort. Aside from Daytona, Busch has led multiple laps in every event and has been among the top three finishers in the last seven races.
That level of production has given Busch a spring in his step, but the 32-year-old driver says the pendulum of emotions can easily swing the opposite direction.
“Certainly you can be a believer in momentum and you can also be a believer in confidence in yourself and your team and when you’re on a roll sometimes, it feels like you can do no wrong and then some things kind of start going bad or vice versa, you can be on a roll where you feel you can do no right so I’ve certainly been on those as well, too,” Busch said. “You never know when your next win is going to be so you cherish them all. Fortunately for us, we’ve had them the last three weeks in a row.
“It’s been a great start to the season and we’re having some fun and we just want to keep that going. We know this is a place that can derail things so you try not to let that mess up your mindset for the rest of the year or even next week going to Dover and after that.”
