2020 Ganassi Racing NASCAR preview: Kurt Busch

2020 will mark Busch’s second season driving for Chip Ganassi Racing in NASCAR’s premier series.

Busch’s final points position may read 13th and an early out in the Playoffs, but his season was not indicative of such a thing at all.

Busch was between seventh and ninth in points for much of the regular season and entered the Playoffs as the eighth seed, but then ran into trouble right from the start of the Playoffs; 39th, 20th, and 18th place finishes led to a first round exit from the postseason and a big hole that even five top 12 finishes in the last seven races couldn’t dig him out of.

The 2004 series champion exceeded expectations and ran solidly, also scoring a 13.1 average finish which ranks as his sixth-best season in terms of average finish.

Despite leading fewer laps and getting fewer top-10 finishes, he equaled his top-five finish and win count he scored in his final season with Stewart-Haas Racing.

With the new Chevrolet nose coming to the Cup Series that’s expected to make the Chevrolet teams more competitive, Busch’s performance, like his teammate Kyle Larson’s, should rise this season.

I’d look for Kurt to have a solid regular season performance that’ll secure him an easy Playoff berth. The more driver-oriented tracks in the Round of 16 will also benefit Kurt so qualifying for the Round of 12 should be no problem.

Past then, anything can happen with the Roval and Talladega being in the Round of 12, but Kurt is a good bet for someone who’ll be in the thick of things during that round.