Kyle Busch’s prediction comes true

On a September Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch wheeled his No. 18 Camry to a second-place finish — his fourth of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series campaign — helping his team propel to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs.

Busch led 159 laps that night, second only to race-winner Kevin Harvick.

“We’ll be eliminated in the next round,” Busch said in a post-race press conference.

Three weeks later, Busch’s shot at defending his 2019 series title came to an end with an 30th-place finish at the Charlotte Road Course. He was 49 points short of making the cut for the Round of 8.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver is now ninth in points after the standings were reset after the Bank of America ROVAL 400.

“Nothing has played out and been on our side,” Busch said after the Charlotte race. “It’s just been unfortunate circumstances, a lot of bad luck.

“These guys on this M&M’s Camry team never give up and they fight all year long and every race and every lap, every pit stop as we can see. Man, just one of them off years. It’s been a terrible year for me.”

Busch has four more races to earn a win in 2020. He has won at least one race per season since 2005, a streak that leads all active drivers.

Busch’s streak is tied for the sixth-longest streak in series history.

The two-time series champion’s last win was his walk-off victory in the season finale last November at Homestead-Miami Speedway that secured the 2019 championship.

Richard Petty holds the record for winning 18 consecutive seasons from 1960 to 1977.

SOURCES
NASCAR
Racing-Reference.info