April 27, 2025
Although Kyle Busch seems to have faded from regular contention recently, he earned a somewhat surprising second-place qualifying run at Talladega, his best since Dover nearly one year ago. Talladega is the site of his penultimate win two years ago, but that race had more to do with the brilliant pit strategy he called himself than his race speed. Nonetheless, he's really good at leading at Talladega. You might not have noticed since he had a 15-year winless streak between his two wins there, but he has led a lap in all but four Talladega races since 2007. However, he has only led more than 12 laps once since 2010, which suggests he isn't likely to lead enough to justify using him for DFS play since he's starting so close to the front. However, since he is more likely to lead a lot than any of the other top starters except for the Penske cars, he isn't a terrible option either.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 13, 2025
Despite spinning out on his second qualifying lap on Saturday, Kyle Busch qualified 15th at Bristol. He is one of the track's all-time greats with eight wins and 2,598 laps led, but he has fallen on hard times since his arrival at Richard Childress Racing. Although Busch still frequently has speed on superspeedways and road courses at RCR, the team has generally been very lacking in short-track speed -- with Austin Dillon's grotesque win at Richmond serving as a rare exception. In his last five starts, Busch has only led five laps with a best finish of 20th, and he hasn't even run well, as his best average running position with this car is 19th. One would have to except Busch will figure out Bristol setups at some point and have another good run again, but until it actually happens, it's likely too big of a gamble to make.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
April 6, 2025
The last time the NASCAR Cup Series raced at Darlington Raceway, Kyle Busch was very close to victory lane, ultimately finishing as the runner-up to race-winner Chase Briscoe when the checkered flag flew. The winless weekends continue to pile up for Busch now, as his streak of Cup Series races without a victory now stands at 64. But could that change this weekend? The No. 8 Chevrolet looks to have pretty good speed once again, as Busch ranked third-fastest in 30-lap average during Goodyear 400 practice on Saturday behind Ryan Blaney and Ryan Preece. When it came to tire fall-off, Busch's times were the only ones close to race-favorite Kyle Larson's. When this weekend's Goodyear 400 goes green on Sunday, Rowdy will start from eighth and should be a strong top-10 contender. With the right strategy and in-race adjustments, we could just see him challenge for a win for the first time in nearly two years. When it comes to DFS, Kyle Busch ($8,800 on DraftKings) is a tournament option that has high-risk, high-reward possibilities.
--Jordan McAbeeSource: ifantasyrace
March 30, 2025
It took Kyle Busch seemingly forever to finally win his two Martinsville races in 2016 and 2017, but although he managed a remarkable eight straight top-five finishes (including those wins), he hasn't been so hot lately, especially with the Next Gen chassis. In the last 12 races, Busch has only led five laps at Martinsville, with those coming in the 2020 fall race where Kevin Harvick's spinout of him backfired. In the last five races, he has finished 16th or worse, and he hasn't even had any speed -- even his average running positions have never been better than 16th. Busch seems to have recovered from last year, so one can expect some level of regression to the mean, but Austin Dillon's Richmond robbery aside, Richard Childress Racing hasn't seemed to have enough speed on short tracks to contend, and Busch is only starting 12th. He probably won't contend, but don't be shocked if he does.
--Sean Wrona - RotoBallerSource: Racing Reference
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