Kyle Busch believes he hasn't lost a step amid career-worst slump

Even in the midst of a 105-race winless streak in the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Busch put on a vintage Kyle Busch performance in Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover Motor Speedway, sweeping the stages from the pole and leading 147 of the race's 200 laps. 

But even mired in the worst slump of his Cup career, the 41-year-old Busch didn't see Friday as a blast from the past.

"I don't feel like I've ever really lost anything," Busch said Friday evening. "It's just a matter of being able to go out there and do a good job."

In fairness to Busch, he may not be wrong. Richard Childress Racing, the organization he races for in the Cup Series, has struggled on the whole over the last three years. Busch has still won five Truck Series races since the start of 2024, proving the future Hall of Famer is still a capable driver. 

Even on the Cup Series side of things, there are now finally reasons for optimism. Busch scored his first top 10 of the season at Talladega on April 26. A crew chief change the next week saw Busch run top 10 for much of the race at Texas before finishing 20th, though he bounced back with an eighth-place run at Watkins Glen last week. 

That mini-run has propelled Busch to 24th in the standings, which would still be a career-worst mark at the end of the season but is at least better than 27th, where Busch sat prior to Talladega. 

Kyle Busch 'remembered how to drive'

"I guess I just remembered how to drive," Busch said. "I don't know. [New crew chief Andy Street], I don't know what he's doing different. I don't feel like I'm talking to anybody any differently. I don't feel like I'm relaying the information any differently. I just feel like it's maybe construed or thought about in a different way and then the execution of being able to listen to my words and be able to put it in the race car translates differently."

Busch likened the change to when Adam Stevens, with whom Busch won his two championships and 28 Cup races, was atop the pit box for him at Joe Gibbs Racing from 2015-20.

"When you can find those guys that you can really, really click with, you try to do everything in your power to keep it together as much as you can," Busch said.

Busch's Truck Series win at Dover continued a solid weekend for the Las Vegas native, who was fourth in practice for Sunday's NASCAR All-Star Race. 

Busch's current hot streak seems to support his narrative that he is yet to lose a step behind the wheel. His win on Friday was his 69th in Truck Series competition, which adds on to his own record for all-time Truck Series victories. 

Quotes provided by NASCAR Media.