Kyle Busch’s abysmal season’s turnaround begins despite no playoff luck, NASCAR statistic attests

Kyle Busch's recent statistics show a massive performance turnaround despite having a disappointing season since the Daytona 500 kicked off. Though the Richard Childress Racing driver failed to make the playoffs, he is the top-scoring driver in the last four races.

The two-time Cup Series champion struggled at the beginning of the season. Busch's performance suffered a downward slope after the season's second race in Atlanta, when he narrowly missed out on the win. One of the biggest factors was RCR's lack of preparation, which cost the veteran driver six to seven races.

Moreover, several wrecks and mechanical failures plagued Busch's race weekends as he succumbed to 5 DNFs. The end of the regular season saw the #8 Chevy driver in the playoff bubble and in a must-win situation at Darlington. But a win didn't materialize and he finished second.

However, in Busch's last four races - at the Richmond Raceway, the Michigan International Speedway, the Daytona International Speedway, and Darlington, he has collected 147 points, the highest among all drivers. His former teammate Christopher Bell is next with 132 points to his name.

A post shared on X(formerly Twitter) are the top-10 scoring drivers from the last four races, a list where Busch reigns supreme (via Trey Ryan):

In the past three races, the Nevada native scored top-5s including two runner-up finishes - at Daytona and Darlington.

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Kyle Busch blames NextGen car for "disgusting" Cup Series races

Kyle Busch tried to close in on Chase Briscoe during the final 17 laps but couldn't, and has detailed his issues with passing Briscoe, particularly with the aerodynamics of the NextGen car.

Denny Hamlin has explained the phenomenon recently. Underbody aerodynamics prevents air from going over the rear spoiler and flows beneath the car. When a NextGen car is in the wind of the other, the air travels under the high-octane ride. Since there's not much air pressure on the rear spoiler, the downforce becomes insufficient for the driver to maintain optimal grip at high speed.

The racer then finds it hard to accelerate as the other factors required for boosting the thrust - grip and downforce - are inadequate.

Busch underwent a similar situation when he went after Briscoe for the lead. Despite going flat out for 17 laps, the #8 Chevy couldn't overtake the #14 Ford. He also failed to pass Harrison Burton during the final lap at Daytona as he couldn't gain much momentum.

After losing another shot at victory by a slim margin, Busch lambasted his "disgusting" results in the NextGen cars, saying (via Dirty Mo Media on X).

"Once I got in the wind of the 14 car, I couldn't do anything with it. Just lost too much grip and the weight on these things is just, he wasn't blocking or anything, I just lost the grip that was all I had," Busch said (0:23).

"I've gone back and looked at the stats and the amount of second and third-place finishes I have in this Next Gen car is disgusting. It's really really getting old and it really, really sucks that I can't come out on top and get myself some more trophies and some more checkered flags for my team," he added (0:53).

Neither of the RCR drivers, Austin Dillon and Kyle Busch, made the playoffs this season. The latter missed the Round of 16 for the first time since 2012.