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Is the secret to Kyle Busch’s success ... the beard?

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NASCAR America looks at the playoff leaderboard before Richmond and wonders which teams can challenge Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske.

RICHMOND, Va. — Are drivers superstitious? Well, since you asked.
One driver is not messing with his good run, while another driver is seeking to break free from his rough luck.

Kyle Busch, who has won three of the first eight Cup races this season, has sported a beard lately. So is that the secret to finishing in the top 10 in every Cup race to start the season? His wife says he needs to keep the beard just in case.

“She said, ‘You just have to keep it going, you’re on the top-10 streak so maybe that’s what it is and keep it rolling,’ ” Busch said. “I don’t know, I guess when I finish outside the top 10, it will be gone so we’ll see.”

Daniel Hemric, on the other hand, has had a rough start of the season. The Cup rookie has not finished better than 18th this season. He has not placed better than 27th in the last four races.

It’s been so rough that he asked fans on Twitter to send him and the team good luck charms.

Fans responded with what Hemric said were “interesting gifts/lucky charms for us.

“One of the fans sent us eight different rabbits’ feet. We’ve given one out to the crew chief and engineer, myself, the truck driver. Just distributed them in a way that we felt that anybody who had a hand on the car they have one to carry with them.”

Just don’t expect Hemric to have any such good luck charms in the car.

“I’ll keep stuff on me personally inside my locker, inside the hauler,” he said. “In the race car, I’ve always been a little weird about putting something in the car.”

We’ll see if his luck changes Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.