Pick any name you want. From any point in time you choose.
Kyle Busch belongs in the conversation with them. He races against today’s Sprint Cup drivers, but he competes against the ones who have come and gone, those who have authored the greatest seasons the sport has seen.
There was Richard Petty, who won 27 times in 1967 to lead the list of NASCAR’s greatest feats. Jeff Gordon won 13 in 1998, including six in seven races at one point. Jimmie Johnson won 10 times in 2007, closing with wins in four of the last five races. Tony Stewart in 2011 won five of 10 Chase races to rocket his way to the title.
Those are some of racing’s most unforgettable champions. And the version of Kyle Busch we’ve seen over the last year is right up there with them.
Last Sunday at Kansas confirmed it. At a track he had never conquered, with Martin Truex Jr. sporting the day’s fastest car … it simply didn’t matter. Busch grabbed the lead after 231 laps, held it for the final 37 laps and won the race by more than a full second.
Easy – just the way Busch has made it look while winning three of his last six races and putting up nine top-fives in 11 races this year, all on the heels of a tour-de-force 2015 that saw him win three straight races and four out of five to make the Chase, and then the finale to earn his first championship.
Team owner Joe Gibbs has seen more than almost anyone in the sport. He’s the winner of four Cup championships, and he’s been at the center of three Super Bowl celebrations. But when it comes to the top driver in his powerful fleet, he’s left utterly flabbergasted.
“I don’t know if any of our teams have ever been this hot and been up front every single week. It’s great to watch,” Gibbs said. “He’s hot right now. He and (crew chief) Adam (Stevens) are hot. … We know he can win anywhere.”
You can stretch Gibbs’s point as far as it’ll go. They can race anywhere. Speedway, road course, short track, long track, New Hampshire, Martinsville, Talladega, Everest, the moon, and the No. 18 Toyota and the man inside it are the combination to beat.
It conjures up the memories of those past drivers and seasons, and the comparisons can even cross sports lines. A locked-in Busch is reminiscent of Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Serena Williams – athletes who, at earlier points in their careers, dominated enough to make nearly every tournament or event they played a battle for second.
That’s the way it’s been for Busch. He’s finishing high if not winning the whole thing, week after week after week.
“It’s very hard in pro sports. The hardest thing in pro sports is to stay up there every week,” Gibbs said. “Right now it’s been a thrill.”
It’s almost hard to remember the disaster from which this streak sprouted. Busch’s No. 54 Monster Energy Camry lay smashed, smoking and smoldering after slamming into the infield wall at Daytona International Speedway during the Xfinity Series’s opening race in February 2015.
The car was mauled, and the driver inside wasn’t in much better shape. Busch had a significant compound fracture in his right leg and another break in his left foot. The last anyone saw of him for weeks was Busch climbing out of his car and collapsing on the infield grass as medical personnel arrived. Then he was out of sight, and with NASCAR making it tougher for drivers to miss races and stay Chase-eligible, he was almost out of mind during the rehabilitation.
But Busch was given a waiver to remain eligible, and since returning from seemingly out of nowhere in May he’s been like Roy Hobbs in a race car. He won five races after his return and then three of the next four, going from Chase long shot to contender in a matter of weeks.
His run has continued this year, as Busch has been better than ever. He’s led laps in all but two races, and has been second or better in five of the past six.
He’s changed since the Daytona wreck. The old Busch was talented but temperamental, and just as prone to winning a race as letting his emotions and aggression cost him one.
The new Busch is mindful of how far he’s had to come, and has turned that into a smarter and more patient outlook that has allowed him to take advantage of the considerable skill at his disposal.
“I’d say I have a little different demeanor, way of going about these races,” he said. “I don’t think anything in these races is going to be as tough as being able to go through the things I went through with physical therapy and being able to get back.”
Good luck finding a way to knock him from his zone. That’s what Kansas was supposed to do. The tri-oval was Busch’s third-worst track by average finish, and one of three at which he hadn’t won. So much for that – and that came a week after Busch led 12 laps and finished second despite starting 17th at Talladega, which had been his second-worst track.
What was that about racing anywhere?
“We do this for many reasons,” Busch said. “But for me, it’s just the challenge of being able to go out there and to continue to try to thrive and be good at what we do, to win championships, win races.
“Every single week, every single year, everything’s a challenge.”
Hasn’t seemed that way. But that’s the clear sign of a driver on a roll – a run that feels destined to be remembered.
(Drew Bonifant can be reached at 369-3340, by email at abonifant@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter at @dbonifant)