Villain-turned-champ Kyle Busch has lofty goals for Cup career
At 30, Kyle Busch already has Hall of Fame credentials.
He’s won 35 Sprint Cup races, fourth most among active drivers, and added a championship to his name a year ago.
But Busch isn’t satisfied. The driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota has at least another decade to compile more stats and possibly become one of the all-time greats. How lofty are his goals?
Busch expressed an interest in becoming the first driver to win 100 Cup races in the modern era (since 1972). And he’d like to end his career with at least five championships, a feat accomplished by only three other drivers (Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Jimmie Johnson). He has more modest aspirations, as well, such as winning a Daytona 500 and picking up a win at every track on the circuit.
“There’s plenty of things that are out there to achieve,” said Busch, who is coming off a win at Martinsville that has secured him an early ticket into this year’s Chase.
“Building that win column — it’s at 35, but to be able to build that to 100 or something like that? That would be pretty special. Now, whether 100 is reachable or not, I doubt it, but we’ll give it our best shot.
“Whether seven [championships] is achievable, probably not, but I’d like to say it is, and we’ll give our best. I’d like to have five, how ’bout that?”
Getting even somewhat close to those two goals would put Busch among the legends of the sport, and he’s hoping to take a step closer Saturday night.
Busch is starting 15th and looking for Cup career win No. 36 in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, a track at which he has been dominant much of his career.
He is tied for third-most top-five finishes with nine in 20 Cup starts, and has won a track-record 12 times through all three NASCAR Series here. He has eight Xfinity Series wins after Friday’s victory, three truck wins and a Cup victory in the spring 2013 race.
Busch has started all but two Cup races at Texas since making his debut in 2005. He missed the fall 2011 race when he intentionally wrecked Ron Hornaday Jr. during the truck race and NASCAR parked him the rest of the weekend.
A year ago, Busch watched Texas’ spring race from his home as he recovered from a broken right leg and fractured left foot following a horrific wreck during the season-opening Xfinity Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
“You always miss Kyle because he makes it interesting,” TMS president Eddie Gossage said. “There’s no question it’s a better race with Kyle Busch in it.”
There’s no question it’s a better race with Kyle Busch in it.
TMS president Eddie Gossage
Gossage paused and smiled, adding: “I know the officials up and down pit road miss the hand gestures.”
Gossage is referring to Busch’s infamous moment at Texas during the fall 2010 Cup race when he gave a one-fingered salute to an official. Busch felt he had been penalized unfairly for speeding on pit road.
Those types of antics, as well as incidents such as wrecking Hornaday, have gone a long way in making Busch one of the more polarizing figures in the sport. Fans either love him or hate him.
But Busch has become more of a fan favorite in recent years. He’s mellowed to a certain extent since becoming a father and gained respect a year ago in overcoming the season-opening accident to win his first championship.
How has it felt to go from villain to “likable” champ?
“Last year, when I came back, I was booed a little bit, but there was certainly some cheers around being able to get back in the race car, get back to the racetrack — things like that — but then I started winning again and it kind of went away,” Busch said, grinning.
“It seemed like not only did I go back to my winning ways, but it seemed like the fans kind of went back to their old ways of how they treated me. But I feel like through the championship and things like that, obviously I’ve grown a little bit, but obviously too, I think my reputation’s kind of grown a little bit as well.
“It’s a never-ending evolution of people in the sport.”
Busch listed a number of drivers who were hated before being liked, such as Dale Earnhardt Sr., Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte and Darrell Waltrip.
Busch is trending that way, too. A video of him surprising an unsuspecting fan and signing her hat at a stoplight after his win at Martinsville Speedway last weekend went viral, getting more than 10 million views on Facebook within the first 24 hours it was posted.
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Posted by Kyle Busch on Sunday, April 3, 2016
“It was just sort of a neat thing at first that turned into a phenomenon I guess — certainly an Internet sensation,” Busch said. “Just kind of spur of the moment, just kind of something fun to do while we were stuck in traffic and obviously just given the opportunity it presented itself to do that, so I think it’s been fun.”
Everything, after all, is fun when you’re winning.
Drew Davison: 817-390-7760, @drewdavison
Duck Commander 500
6:30 p.m, Saturday, KDFW/4
Three to watch
Martin Truex Jr.
One of the “Final Four” drivers for the championship a year ago, Truex has become a threat to win every weekend. He has his best starting position for the season (third), and has posted consecutive top-10 finishes in his past two races at Texas.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
He had his best qualifying day at Texas on Friday, and will start fifth. Maybe that will lead to his first career top-10 run at Texas. He certainly has a better chance to accomplish that feat than his girlfriend, Danica Patrick, who is starting 26th.
Jimmie Johnson
The six-time champ who has dominated TMS in recent years is starting 11th. Of his six Cup wins at Texas, though, none have been from a worse starting position than eighth. Is that about to change?
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Villain-turned-champ Kyle Busch has lofty goals for Cup career."