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Filed under: Kyle Busch , Sprint Cup , Joe Gibbs Racing THE SEASON: Fortunately for Kyle Busch, the last ten races of the 2009 season saw him bring home his highest possible points position finish. Unfortunately for Busch, the highest was 13th after he failed to earn a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup — just a year removed from one of the most dominating regular season performances in recent memory. The ill effects, though, of the 2008 Chase becoming a complete disaster for the No. 18 team seemed to linger at points this season — but it didn’t start that way. Busch easily had the car to beat in the season-opening Daytona 500, but a wreck on the backstretch of the rain-shortened race left his hopes for a win in NASCAR’s biggest event mangled like the sheet metal on his Toyota Camry. He took his first win of 2009 just two races later at Las Vegas before later sweeping both events at Bristol Motor Speedway and a win at Richmond. Uncharacteristically though, Busch suffered through a struggle starting at Dover in the end of May. From that point to the Chase cut off race in Richmond, Busch finished in the top-10 in just four of the 14 races. A sure-fire top-five finish in the July Daytona race was also thwarted after Busch tried to block Tony Stewart for the win on the final lap — ending in a hard crash for the No. 18. By comparison, in the 14 races prior to the Chase in 2008 Busch won 5 times and finished in the top-10 8 times. Such struggles eventually led to the reassignment (and later a new job with Kyle’s brother Kurt at Penske Racing) of crew chief Steve Addington — a move that raised several eyebrows in the garage area. Several signals, though, indicated that Busch’s fondness of Addington as a crew chief had dipped considerably in 2009. 2009 was also a year in which Busch faced plenty of heat for his post-race antics (or often lack thereof after he’d intentionally avoid the media) — something he vowed to work on in a move that came to the chagrin of track promoters everywhere. A bland Kyle Busch, after all, is just a younger version of his brother. THE STATISTICS: Best Finish - 1st, 4 times Worst Finish - 41st, Daytona Top-5s - 9 Top-10s - 13 Total Laps Led - 1157 Percent of Laps Completed - 97.9 THE FUTURE: Kyle Busch will be entering the final year of his original three-year deal with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2010, though rumors are already afloat that JGR has no intention of letting Busch slip away. After all, Busch is about as good of a sure-bet for future success as you can have in the Sprint Cup Series. Busch teamed up with new Cup crew chief Dave Rogers towards the end of the 2009 campaign and nearly pulled off a fuel mileage win in November at Texas Motor Speedway. The pair previously have had Nationwide Series experience in working together and with the resources of JGR, there shouldn’t be a major transition period. 2009 turned Kyle Busch into an also-ran for much of the season, something that he’s just got to terrible despise. Knowing that, and knowing that Kyle Busch’s raw talent looms large on nearly every track, 2010 should be one of Busch’s best yet as he steps up to likely be one of Jimmie Johnson’s staunchest competitors for the title. ? Permalink ?|? Email this ?|? Linking?Blogs ?|? Comments

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