Kyle Busch 2010 Preview, Predictions & Odds

With the NASCAR season underway, we are providing season previews for the top 30 drivers to give you the betting edge. Follow the best NASCAR Handicappers as they analyze their drivers in this 2010 season preview. Use our comprehensive and insider info to bet successfully on NASCAR in our recommend sportsbooks. View the rest of our 2010 NASCAR Season Previews here.

Kyle Busch 2009 Stats

Kyle Busch 2009 Recap & Review

Like a fisherman lamenting the quarry not caught, Kyle Busch will look back on 2009 as Uthe one that got away.” Busch started the year with high hopes following a spectacular ’08 season in which he notched a record 21 wins across NASCAR’s top three series, including eight Cup victories. But, in a bit of foreshadowing of his ’09 fortunes, Busch started the year on a sour note. After leading the most laps in the Daytona 500, he was the innocent victim of a multi-car crash, finishing the race 41st.

Busch battled back with three wins in the next nine starts, pulling himself up to fifth in the standings, but he subsequently fell into an uncharacteristic midseason slump. During a IS-race stretch from May to September, he achieved only two top-5 finishes, with a fourth and final win at Bristol in August the lone highlight.

Heading into the final regular-season race at Richmond, Busch was 14th in points, still mathematically eligible to make the Chase. He gave a valiant effort, finishing fifth, but when the checkered flag waved, he fell eight points shy of making the cut to the No. 83 team and Brian Vickers. He went on to finish UBest of the Rest,” 13th in points but with only 13 top-10 finishes, his worst total since his rookie season of 2005.

Kyle Busch 2010 Preview & Prediction

It seems like only yesterday that Kyle Busch, then a lanky 18-year-old with talent beyond his years, burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2003. Almost immediately, the young phenom began scoring wins and setting a string of youngest-ever records that left him on the cusp of greatness. But in 2010, his sixth full Cup season and his third with Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch finds himself at a fork in the road — with the 24-year-old’s frequent trips to Victory Lane countered by both immaturity and inconsistency.

Busch has set a blistering pace in terms of wins — a cumulative total of 62 across NASCAR’s top three series. But he’s only finished one Cup season (2007) with a top-5 ranking, and he missed the Chase in ’09 for the first time since his rookie year. His four wins tied him for third in the category behind Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, but it was only half of his win total from ’08 and was offset by four finishes of 33rd or worse.

As a result of the No. 18 team’s struggles, crew chief Steve Addington, who had been with JGR for five years, was relieved of his duties with only three races left in the year, replaced by Dave Rogers. A top-notch Nationwide Series crew chief, Rogers has the unenviable task in 2010 of reining in a driver whose descriptions of a bad-handling car on the radio come with more swears than an R-rated movie.

Keeping the temper in check and his driver’s eyes on the prize is crucial for Rogers to get Busch back to weekly contention. Busch inked an extension with JGR during the offseason, so any contract-talk that could be seen as a distraction has been put to bed. The one issue unresolved is whether Busch, the 2009 Nationwide Series champion, will compete in that series full-time again. At the end of last year, Busch indicated he planned to run a partial schedule, but success early on could be a powerful inducement to attempt to run the entire slate. And despite the assertion from critics that Busch’s participation in the lower series distracts from his focus on the Cup side, he has formed a two-truck team under the Kyle Busch Motorsports banner that may run three entries in select events. Whether this serves as a distraction or gives Busch an added sense of perspective remains to be seen, though for his part, Kyle believes it can only serve in a positive way.

Meanwhile, Busch stayed busy in the offseason running multiple events, including Florida’s popular Snowball Derby in December. It’s a schedule that keeps the skills sharp but the body physically drained as the demands of 100-plus races have taken their toll on others in the past.

How Busch fares in 2010 will depend on a number of variables. He’s clearly shown that he can win races, but his team, like everyone else’s right now, will be searching for ways to stop Hendrick Motorsports and the Johnson juggernaut. Most fans are hoping to see a more mature Busch this year — one who learns from past mistakes. It’s clear that when it comes to being one of the sport’s most polarizing figures, it doesn’t take much for him to stand out. But until Busch balances those wins with consistency, the words “Cup Champion” won’t be the reason why.

Kyle Busch 2010 Predictions

We predict that Kyle Busch will finish 7th in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Kyle Busch Betting & Odds

Kyle Busch NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship Odds: +1000

Kyle Busch Betting Trends & Situations

• after finishing 11th to 15th, average finish is 16.7
• when racing in February, average finish is 14.6

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