Driver Spotlight: Kyle Busch

Nascar Behind the Wall Driver spotlight: Kyle Busch. This segment will be a short article about where each driver is right now during the 2013 season. At the end of the season I will review some of the more interesting stories from Driver Spotlight.

Well as Kyle Busch himself said after Fontana about his win, "if that is even a story," I will make him proud by spotlighting him this week. Coming off his second win in the early 2013 season, we take a look back at how he has been on a long come back. He had a rough 2011 season but it looked like he would turn it around in 2012. On the stretch run toward the chase Kyle got caught up in some bad times and missed the Chase. Even though he missed the Chase he was one of the hottest drivers during the Chase and finished as the highest driver not in the Chase.

So onto this season, the real story on Kyle Busch. No one has been hotter on the 2013 season then Kyle. Kyle just hit my top spot in my Power Rankings located in Pit Row: Week 7 and for good reason. He has been on a a run that includes two wins, five top 5's, and 5 top 10's. He has an average start position 5.4 and an average finish of 10th in 7 Sprint Cup races. He also has swept two weekends (Fontana and Texas) on his way to 3rd in the Sprint Cup standings.

Sure Kyle has found his fair share of problems along the way in his career but this year he seems to be more in control of anything that comes his way. He may be fully maturing as a Nascar driver or it could be that so many other story lines are keeping the spotlight off of him (Rivals, Joey Logano, or fines). It maybe a bit of both, but one thing is for sure, Kyle Busch is back to his winning ways.

After finishing outside the Chase last year and finishing as the lowest driver in the Chase in 2011 (12th) will this be the year Kyle busts back out like he did in 2008 with 8 wins and 17 top 5's? Kyle Busch has yet to finish a season higher then 5th in the points standings (5th in 2007) so the real question is can he put it together when it counts, the Chase?

No question Busch is a driver to watch every week, but it will also be fun to watch as the season goes on to see if he can put it together in the Chase and become a true Champion. Hopefully for Kyle Busch fans, at the end of the 2013 year I am updating this article writing about how he became a Champion this season.

**4/28/13 Update: After getting his second Win of the 2013 season, and writing this article, Kyle has had back to back disappointing finishes. The weekend at Kansas was a disaster and he finished the day 38th. At Richmond he had a good car and ran up front for awhile but found trouble late in the race and finished 24th. Looks like Kyle in in need of a good finish going to Dega.**

**6/2/13 Update: Kyle has still had some bad luck following him this season but he has had cars to beat in many of the races. His problem still seems to be having the car to beat down the stretch. At Dover he had a great car to start the race but finished the race clinging to a 4th place finish. Including the ASR he has had 3 top 10's in his last 4 races (2 top 5's). The question from the original article still remains, will he be able to put it together when it all counts, down the stretch?**