Kyle Busch could miss the Chase for the Championship

July 29, 2:08 PMAtlanta NASCAR ExaminerJeremy Dunn

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Had a bad day, again! (AP Photo/Tom Strattman)

Could Kyle Busch miss the cut for the Chase for the Championship?  That would have been a ridiculous question three or four months ago when everyone in the media labeled him the next Dale Earnhardt.  Busch was the first driver to win three races this season; in fact, he won three of the first ten races of 2009. 

However, he has not won since his birthday bash at Richmond back in the first weekend of May.  After ten races, Busch was fifth in the championship standings, 158 ahead of the thirteenth place driver.  Throughout the following ten races, Busch has not won a race, nor has he scored a top five finish, and only has two top ten finishes. 

With six finishes of twentieth or worse, Busch has plummeted to fourteenth in the standings, 82 points behind the Chase cutoff.  Meanwhile, the drivers that he is chasing, such as Mark Martin, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Kasey Kahne are surging.  Additionally, it is going to be difficult to bypass drivers of the caliber of Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth.  Qualifying for the Chase is going to be an arduous task for Busch. 

After a stellar season in 2008, Busch was a trendy pick to win the 2009 Sprint Cup championship.  Many felt as if the team learned from the blunders that bit them last fall.  There was no reason to believe that Kyle Busch would not return to the Chase for a fourth consecutive season. 

The summer swoon has temporarily kicked Busch out of the Chase field.  A combination of poor performance and on-track misfortune have threatened his championship aspirations.  Additionally, questionable driving tactics have contributed to the slump.  For instance, at Daytona earlier in the month, Busch could have either won a finished second in a drag race to the finish line with Tony Stewart.  Instead, he opted to impetuously throw a desperate block and found himself in the infield care center with a fourteenth place finish. 

The majority of the Kyle Busch detractors will say that karma is biting the twenty-four year old driver.  He became notorious for degrading his crew following pit road mistakes, and storming off like a ten year old following a disappointing race.  He shunned the media and his fans when things did not turn out the way he had hoped. 

He spent much of the first half of the season berating and facetiously mocking Dale Earnhardt Jr for being too popular and too slow.  Ironically, he could find himself in the same position as the driver that replaced him at Hendrick Motorsports; building for 2010 instead of chasing the 2009 championship. 

Last weekend at Indianapolis, Busch’s attitude seemed to have changed for the better. 

“I need to become a better person in being able to pull our team together and lead these guys, and ultimately, lead them back into the Chase,” Busch said at Indianapolis. 

He granted interviews following his dreadful 38^th place showing, which is something he would have avoided a month ago. 

Busch is correct in saying that he needs to be able to pull his team together.  That is a quality that drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart, and Jeff Gordon possess; and all four of those drivers will likely vie for the title. 

Busch has six races to rally his way back into the top twelve.  He has the talent behind the wheel, as well as the vast resources at Joe Gibbs Racing.  Other than Pocono, the six upcoming tracks favor Busch as recent history indicates.  I anticipate a Kyle Busch rally, but he needs the guys in front of him to stumble.  It is going to be difficult for him to outperform Kenseth, Biffle, Kahne, and Montoya.