Thursday, December 11, 2014

2014 Driver Spotlight Review: Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch 2014 Review


By Richard Tix

Season Preview

Season Grade: C-

Kurt Busch had a heck of a run in 2013 with Furniture Row. He helped bring that team a ton of success which may have helped them bring in Martin Truex Jr when Kurt departed. In 2014 he got another shot with a major team when he went to Stewart-Haas Racing. After the last few years of seeing competitive drivers move to a new team, jump right in, and run very well. Many thought Kurt might do the same as those drivers.

"That brings us to 2014, and Kurt Busch, for the first time in two seasons, will be back with a major team in NASCAR.  If we take a little walk down memory lane, some will remember that Kurt once had a streak of ten seasons with at least 1 win and that he also has won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship in 2004. Now he will have a big team that is getting some top notch equipment and funding to back him while he drives the #41 Chevy."- 2014 Driver Spotlight Preview: Kurt Busch

Looking back on the preview, I would have to say 2014 was a let down for Kurt Busch. Things seemed to be looking up for him and he actually regressed (other than a win in 2014). However, lets take a look at the season he had in general. He started the season slow. In Kurt's first 13 races he had 11 finishes higher than 18th. Eight of those 11 were out of the top 25. That's just plan bad.

Fast forward and take a look at the remaining 23 races. Kurt only had 7 finishes outside the top 15 and only 5 of those were outside the top 25 (down from 11 in 13 races). Four of his eleven top 10's in 2014 came during the Chase. So, things started pushing into the right direction late for Kurt, which saved his season and why he didn't earn lower than a C-. Plus, he was given the benefit of starting fresh on a new team.




No comments: