Kevin Harvick foresees Kyle Busch possibly pushing for a win at Daytona, although his forecast for the rest of the two-time champion’s season is less optimistic
Kyle Busch recently finished 10th at Sonoma(Image: Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Kevin Harvick’s expectations for fellow NASCAR Cup Series legend Kyle Busch appear low heading into Dover as the driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet continues to run outside of the playoff picture.
Currently 37 points below the cutoff line and two spots below 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace in the final playoff position, Busch is fresh off of his seventh top 10 finish of the season, having come home in 10th at Sonoma after an impressive fifth-place finish in Chicago the week before. Both races wound up being dominated by Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, with the three-time Supercars Championship winner joining Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, and Denny Hamlin as the only three-time winners this season.
Despite these solid road course results, Harvick doesn’t believe consistency has been on Busch’s side this season as he looks to bounce back from failing to reach the playoffs for the first time in 12 years last season.
READ MORE: Caitlin Clark takes matters into own hands after Angel Reese salary complaintsREAD MORE: Rory McIlroy remark speaks volumes as bad behavior sees golfer banned from U.S. Open Championship
“I just think it’s too inconsistent at this point,” the 2014 Cup Series champion said on the Harvick Happy Hour podcast. “I think he has his strengths, he’s Kyle freaking Busch.”
Harvick went on to add that he believes Busch could yet win at Daytona on August 23 in the Coke Zero Sugar 400, however, “I don’t believe he’s going to go win anywhere else.” The 49-year-old later added that thus far, he hasn’t “seen anything out of the 8 that says, they’re gonna go out and win anywhere aside from maybe Daytona.”
After winning his second Cup Series crown in 2019, Busch has been consistently slipping down the pecking order, finishing eighth, ninth, 13th, 14th, and 20th in points in the years since.
And while his move from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR in 2023 started strong with three wins that season, he has now gone winless since World Wide Technology Raceway in June 2023.
Busch is narrowly outside of the playoff picture entering Dover(Image: Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
However, with six races to go until the playoffs kick off, Busch is within touching distance, and he believes that it will all come down to everyone at RCR, including himself, executing and remaining accountable.
“I think it just boils down to all of us on our team being accountable,” he said of pushing for the playoffs, via On3. “Pit crew, myself, [crew chief] Randall [Burnett], engineers, everybody, and being able to do what we know how to do and what we’re paid to do, and that’s to execute.”
Dover represents a golden opportunity for Busch, who has won on the 1.5-mile concrete oval three times in his Cup Series career, most recently in 2017.
Last season, Busch managed to qualify on pole before coming home in fourth.
Busch will travel to Delaware fresh off a win at Charlotte at the U.S. Legend Cars International Cook Out Summer Shootout in the master’s division. “W in the Chat,” he shared on social media.
“Went 7th to 1st for our 5th SSO win of the year. Thx for the boys for all their hardwork.”