Daytona 500 remains an asterisk on Kyle Busch’s career

Kyle Busch missed another Daytona 500 victory on Sunday, leaving an asterisk on the NASCAR champion’s career that he doesn’t deserve.

Kyle Busch saw the Daytona 500 elude him again this year, continuing a complicated relationship between Busch and NASCAR‘s Great American Race.

“It is what it is,” a dejected Busch told reporters after finishing second to teammate Denny Hamlin on Sunday. “At least we got a [Joe Gibbs Racing] car in Victory Lane. That’s the big picture. That’s what matters, and we move on.”

But he certainly won’t move on from the goal of being a Daytona 500 winner. Nor should he, since it’s the one question mark hanging over an otherwise elite career.

Kyle Busch is a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion. He’s finished in the top five of the championship standings each of the last four years. He’s got 51 wins; Jimmie Johnson is the only active driver with more. Oh, and Busch had one of the great comeback stories in all of sports back in 2015, when he recovered from terrible injuries—suffered at Daytona—to become a champion.

Yet he hasn’t won the Daytona 500. It’s a frustration that’s lasted more than a decade; now 0-14, Busch is also the active driver with the longest winless streak in NASCAR’s biggest race.

He knows it. Everyone knows it—the TV broadcast on Sunday brought up the unfortunate statistic multiple times, particularly when Busch let teammate Hamlin come down on what ended up being the last restart and saw a victory slip away.

“This was probably the best shot to win,” he continued. “Being up front that much at the end of the race, and having the track position, and being in those positions on those restarts and whatnot.

“That one restart where Denny wanted to race, I took the bottom because I felt like having the 14 behind me…I felt like that was going to be a good lane for me to be in front of. They came off of 2 and they all spread out, and that’s when the 14 got crashed, and then the 11 had the lead because he was ahead at the time. So that kind of cost us.”

“And then [Hamlin] wanted to go back into teammate preservation mode again,” Busch added. “Kind of funny how it swaps back and forth a little bit, but it is what it is.”

That particularly has to make the 2019 Daytona 500 sting for Kyle Busch; not only was he as close as he’s ever come to winning and came up just short, but what turned the tide was that he helped his teammate. But no NASCAR fan can fault him—he did what any driver would hope somebody’d do for them, and coming second doesn’t change that he drove the wheels off.

Busch’s issue is that the Daytona 500 will continue to come up until he wins it. Until he finally gets his name on the Harley J. Earl Trophy, every time his accomplishments are mentioned there will be a “but” included. He’s been the best driver in the sport, but not in the sport’s best race.

His struggle is similar to that of IndyCar’s Will Power—who was also a champion and one of his series’ most elite drivers but fought to capture the Indianapolis 500. When Power finally won the race in 2018, it was a weight off his shoulders and gave him the extra modicum of respect he had always deserved.

“I think that was the box I needed to tick,” Power told FanSided after the win. “Once you’ve won a championship and the 500 you can be considered as a successful driver in IndyCar.”

Kyle Busch doesn’t have the “and” yet. He has the NASCAR championship, but not the Daytona 500. However, he shouldn’t be judged by one race, even if it is the biggest race in NASCAR. That would be short-changing everything else he’s done—how he’s won just about everywhere else and fought through every challenge that’s come his way, including adversity that would make a lesser man crumble.

He’s become one of the pillars of the sport, both on and off the track, and that deserves plenty of respect. When he could have thrown a tantrum, Busch was honest about his disappointment but also appreciative of the big picture—even if he wasn’t at the center of it.

“It certainly is a very bittersweet situation for myself, because I’d have much rather have been the one to win the race and be in Victory Lane and celebrating with my team and with everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing and being a part of the J.D. celebration,” he concluded post-race, referring to how his team was competing in memory of co-founder J.D. Gibbs, who died before the 2019 NASCAR season began.

“But overall, you couldn’t be more thrilled for all the 500 people back at Joe Gibbs Racing that knew and respected and obviously looked up to J.D. for the person that he was, and for the relationships that he gave all of us.”

Sunday night wasn’t Kyle Busch’s night, and it’s likely going to haunt him for a while. But with the way he’s driven over the last four-plus years, and how tenacious he is, NASCAR fans will see Kyle Busch winning the Daytona 500. And then there won’t be any more doubt about how he is one of the greats.

For complete coverage of the 2019 NASCAR season, follow the NASCAR category at FanSided.