Kyle Busch enters this season's Chase for the Sprint Cup as one of the top contenders for the championship, which would be the first of his career. USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Gluck offers 18 reasons this could be the No. 18's year:
1. He's due
With 28 career Sprint Cup Series wins, Busch is the winningest active full-time driver without a championship (only part-time driver Mark Martin has more wins without a title among active drivers). But in eight seasons, Busch has only finished better than 10th in the points standings twice. His best finish is fifth in 2007.
It hasn't happened for myriad reasons, many of which revolve around mishaps or misfortune once the Chase begins. Take 2008: After winning eight races in the regular season and entering the Chase as the No. 1 seed, Busch started the playoff with three straight finishes of 28th or worse.
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A sway bar bolt fell out at New Hampshire, his engine blew up at Dover, and he had a fuel pickup problem at Kansas.
"Granted, it's my name and I get the recognition whether we win or lose," he said. "But Kyle Busch didn't do anything."
Well, one thing.
"The thing I did do wrong is when the bolt fell out (at New Hampshire), I spun out to cause a caution — and three other people ran into me!" he said with a laugh. "I was like, 'Are you joking? Are you kidding me?' I spun out of the way, down into the grass, and they come find me."
2. Qualifying improvement
Busch has the best average starting position (8.0) in NASCAR — the highest of his career and an improvement from 15.3 the last time he made the Chase in 2011. And he already has a career-high three poles this season.
Starting position is crucial for any championship contender due to clean air and better pit stall selection.
3. A better attitude
Wife Samantha said she's noticed a change in her husband, 28: He's more positive in the face of adversity.
"I feel like if one bad thing happened, he used to focus on it," she said. "But now he focuses on the good things and doesn't let one bad thing take the rest down. He's been trying to keep a better perspective, both in our home life and his race life."
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Busch said his win at Fontana came in part because he "didn't go crazy" after falling to third with two laps to go.
"I tried restarting on the bottom on old tires and it didn't work, so Joey (Logano) and Denny (Hamlin) got by me and were racing each other like idiots," he said. "But I got back to my normal line on the top and started running them down. Whether they wrecked or not, I was going to beat them."
4. Fore!
A new hobby — golf — has provided a welcome distraction from racing.
"It's something I've been doing more often just to take my mind off the weekend," Busch said.
But Busch said he isn't good yet and has experienced a problem every amateur golfer can understand: Inconsistency.
"It's aggravating as hell," he said. "On a par 5, I can shoot a six. And on a par 3, I can shoot a six, too!"
Busch's father-in-law built a practice pad for Kyle and Samantha to hit shots into Lake Norman. The couple bought cheap balls off eBay, and Samantha even purchased some filled with fish food to be environmentally friendly.
Still, Busch said he's "not a driver guy" and is better with pitching and putting.
"I can drive it, but most of the time it's to the right," he said.
Which is odd, considering he drives to the left for a living.
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5. Pit crew continuity ...
Busch said his pit crew is the best in the business (they recently helped get him a win at Atlanta when he took the lead on the final pit stop), and he's speaking from experience. The No. 18 team's pit crew members have not changed since Busch joined Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008, giving the team a chemistry few others share on pit road.
6. ... but changes with team personnel
Although the pit crew is the same, Busch's road crew — mechanics, engineers and the like — is completely different now. Aside from crew chief Dave Rogers, the most senior members of the team joined Busch in 2011.
Among the changes this year: A new car chief, race engineer and underneath mechanic.
7. Finding God
Surrounded by people of strong faith like team owner Joe Gibbs and Interstate Batteries chairman Norm Miller, Busch has quietly become religious.
Busch says faith has become an important part of his life.
"We've been praying a lot and thanking the Lord for everything we've been blessed with," Busch said. "We've been heading down that path and seeing what else comes our way."
8. Engine woes all done?
Toyota has had more than its share of engine problems this year. Could it be that the manufacturer has gotten the troubles out of the way early?
That might be overly optimistic, but the team isn't focused on engines heading into the Chase.
"I hear about engine woes (as a reason the 18 can't win it all)," Rogers said. "I can't do nothing about it, so I don't worry about it."
9. Last year's math
The 18 team was incredibly prepared for last year's Chase, Rogers said. Everyone thought it might be Busch's best shot yet at a title.
There was only one problem: Busch didn't make it (three consecutive engine failures in the middle of the summer didn't help).
Rogers pulled the team together with a challenge: "Now is (the) time to see what we're made of. The easiest thing to do is just fold and restart next year, or we can show our fans what we can do."
Rogers said the team "worked just as hard as if we'd gotten in it."
Busch scored the fourth-most points in the Chase despite an engine problem at New Hampshire while running second and a crash at Kansas while running eighth. Take away those incidents, and Busch would have ended up with 19 more points than champion Brad Keselowski.
"If you give me Loudon and Kansas back, I won the championship," Busch said. "Things have to go your way. That's what it all boils down to. You've got to be good," Busch said. "But you've got to be lucky and good."
10. Luck is back
Busch already has 16 wins in 52 starts heading into Chicagoland.
Luck played a part in wins at Texas (a late caution thwarted a likely Martin Truex Jr. win) and Watkins Glen (a caution fell while Busch was on pit road and put Marcos Ambrose back in the pack).
"You've got to have a little bit of luck on your side in this deal, and when you get it, you can't say, 'Oh, we deserved it,' " he said. "Say, 'We had a little bit of luck. That's good! We'll take it.' "
11. Good finishes
What wins the championship? Top-five and top-10 results. And Busch has a bunch of them.
Entering the Chase, Busch leads all drivers with 11 top-five finishes. His 15 top-10 finishes were tied with Jimmie Johnson for the series high entering Richmond.
12. Better feedback
The race car is the driver's tool to get a job done, Rogers said, and it's the crew's mission to keep improving it.
Busch has helped the team this year by giving "extremely good feedback," Rogers said — even "when it doesn't seem like there's a chance in the world we can get to where we need to by the end of the race."
Reading Busch's body language, hearing the tone of his voice and listening, Rogers has concluded his driver is calmer inside the car.
"He's really mellowed down the tone and used more descriptive words," Rogers said. "He's upset, but he's still criticizing constructively. And that makes us better."
13. New teammate
Matt Kenseth won the 2003 Cup title and has competed in every Chase but one. With Kenseth — also a championship contender with a series-high five wins — about to embark on his first Chase with Joe Gibbs Racing, could the veteran's presence mean good things for Busch?
It certainly can't hurt.
14. He doesn't want to wait another year
One of the things that bothers Busch the most about his lack of Chase success is that it takes so long to get a shot at redemption.
Though he's won four times this season, it will all be for nothing if he doesn't get the results he wants.
"That's what becomes most frustrating about it," he said. "You get down to (the) end of the regular season, you get in the Chase where it's make it or break it time and you start losing the top guys (in the points). It's like, 'Well, this is a whole 'nother year wasted. In 10 weeks, it's all gone.' "
15. Winning ways
Busch has won races at six of the 10 Chase tracks. Though he lacks victories at Charlotte, Kansas, Martinsville and Homestead, he's won lower-tier series races at all except Martinsville.
16. Good karma
Kyle and Samantha have been doing more charity work this year, and a major event for the Kyle Busch Foundation falls during the Chase.
Samantha has been working on a program to help breast cancer survivors during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Kyle said the interactions with survivors "has been really good for Samantha and I."
17. More workouts
Samantha's been getting Kyle in better shape. She sometimes organizes workouts where he can go at his own pace; other times, the couple follows along with workout videos.
"Either way, they're all painful," Kyle said. "But the videos are just non-stop. You fall over dead when you're done."
"It's fun," she insisted. "You know it's fun."
18. A winning smile
If none of the previous 17 reasons were good enough, here's one more: "He's got the best-looking crew chief in the garage," Rogers said with a laugh.
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