The NASCAR Cup Series has gone through one-sixth of the 2017 season already, and two of its preeminent teams – Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports – still have yet to reach victory lane.
But count one JGR driver, Kyle Busch, as not being worried, even though he has not won a Cup race since last summer’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis — a 22-race winless drought.
“I don’t think it should be alarming,” the 2015 NASCAR Cup champion said last weekend at Martinsville Speedway. “I think it’s probably a good thing, to be honest with you.
“There needs to be more parity in our sport. There need to be other teams that have the opportunity to get up there and run well and win races. You see RCR (Richard Childress Racing) has done that. You see Ganassi has done that. Those would be two teams that probably haven’t won in the last couple years.
“I know (Kyle) Larson won a race last year, but not regularly, let’s say, like the JGR bunch or the HMS bunch.”
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Busch, who won four races in 2016, knows it’s just a matter of time before he returns to victory lane, given the fact he’s finished third, eighth and second in his last three Cup starts.
“Our time is coming,” he said in a team release. “We were so close at Martinsville. We know that. We’ll get it up to speed to where we need to.
“I think we’re playing a little bit of catch‑up right now, to be honest with you. We do have great partners with the guys at Furniture Row who have been running really well (Martin Truex Jr. won at Las Vegas).
“They’ve been strong and up front each week. They’ve been helping us, as well, getting our program to where we believe we know it can be. They’ve shown us. They’ve had the potential each week. We just have to get there ourselves.”
