It’s a story as old as time.
At some point in every athlete’s life, they start to slow down. Their younger counterparts begin to take charge. The once venerable legends become vulnerable to the point that any success is no longer booed and ridiculed, but cheered and celebrated.
That’s where two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch finds himself following Sunday’s race at Circuit of the Americas.
Busch entered the third race of the 2025 season on a 59-race winless streak, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he drove on Sunday.
For the first time in nearly two years, Busch dominated a race. He looked every bit the 63-time Cup Series race winner who is well on his way to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
That was until Christopher Bell, a newer star nine years Busch’s junior, had something to say about it.
With five laps to go in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, Bell passed Busch for the race lead. With older tires and an ailing race car, Busch could only watch as Bell drove away.
Busch crossed the line fifth on a day where he led 42 laps and was by far the fastest man in Texas.
On the surface, Busch’s heartbreaking defeat is just that: another race included on a career-worst drought for one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers of all time. If you dig a little, however, it’s an impending warning that Busch may soon find himself in the same position as other former greats.
Richard Petty had won 200 NASCAR Cup Series races and seven championships by the end of the 1984 season. Over the next eight years, he would go winless and finish in the top-10 in points only once. In 1989 and 1992, Petty failed to finish a single race inside the top-10.
The King’s tumble from the top of the heap was anything but graceful, as the likes of Darrell Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace fought their own Revolutionary War to get NASCAR’s once-sovereign ruler off his throne.
Like Petty, Jimmie Johnson also found his way to the championship stage. Over 19 full-time seasons, Johnson won 83 races and put together one of the greatest dynasties in NASCAR history from 2006 to 2010, winning five consecutive titles.
But Father Time doesn’t care about rings or trophies. After winning at Dover in June 2017, Johnson went winless for the final three and a half years of his career. In 2019 and 2020, Johnson missed the playoffs entirely. It was a shocking regression for a driver that at one point seemed unbeatable.
Nearly a decade after he won the first of his two Cup Series championships, Busch seems to be moving down the same path as Petty and Johnson. In 2024, he missed the playoffs and suffered the first winless season of his career.
His performance at COTA on Sunday was a glimpse of the driver that used to be, but as little as five years ago, everyone would’ve expected Busch to hold off Bell for the win, even in adverse conditions. Such are the expectations placed on a generational talent such as Busch.
COTA wasn’t the first close call for Busch over the course of his winless streak. At Daytona in August 2024, Parker Retzlaff pushed Harrison Burton past Busch on the final lap, leaving Busch to settle for second. A week later, the Southern 500 at Darlington marked the end of the regular season. Busch was forced to settle for another runner-up finish as Chase Briscoe took the win.
At Kansas in September, Busch was leading in Stage 3 when he spun with 33 laps to go. Once again, the stars didn’t align.
Sunday’s race at COTA can easily be classified as Busch’s best performance of the Next-Gen era. His average running position was a stellar 2.14. His pit crew was flawless, as were crew chief Randall Burnett’s calls atop the pit box.
Unfortunately for Busch, Bell was slightly better when it counted most. Bell’s race-winning pass was one Joe Gibbs saw Busch make time after time when Busch drove Gibbs’ No. 18. On Sunday, Gibbs was on the other side of the coin, rooting Bell on to victory.
At 39 years old, Busch likely won’t retire anytime in the next two to three years. He’ll have plenty of chances to snag another win and break the longest drought of his career, but he must take advantage when the opportunities arise.
Busch isn’t the same driver he was five years ago, and NASCAR’s young crop of talent is getting better by the day. On the surface, Sunday’s race was a battle between a flashy young gun and a crafty veteran, but below the surface, it was a changing of the guard that proved Busch likely won’t ever return to the heights he once reached.
–Samuel Stubbs, Field Level Media
Comments