Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, stands by his car before the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 24, 2017 in Bristol, Tennessee. Photo – Jared C Tilton/Getty Images
The last two seasons, only seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson (ten) won more races than Kyle Busch, who visited Victory Lane nine times.
Eight races into the 2017 campaign, Busch is still searching for his first checkered flag.
He’ll be one of the favorites in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway at 2 pm. ET on FOX, a track where he leads active drivers with four victories.
Despite owning the active wins lead at the 0.75-mile oval, Busch hasn’t won there since 2012.
“We’re hoping to get our M&M’S Camry back to form (at Richmond),” said Busch, who finished second in last year’s Toyota Owners 400 after being shoved from the lead by then-teammate Carl Edwards. “We were very good last spring, but we’d like to get another victory there, for sure.”
In 23 Richmond starts, Busch also claims 15 top-five and 17 top-ten finishes. Among active competitors, he boasts the top average finish (7.0) and driver rating (110.8), along with the second-best average running position (7.7) at the Virginia short track.
“I love Richmond,” Bush said. “It’s one of my favorite racetracks and one of my best racetracks. I love being able to go there and, of course, we put on some pretty good races there. We won four spring races in a row and I would have loved to have made it five or more. It’s a neat racetrack and it’s certainly an exciting track and there is a lot of action that happens there.”
Busch hopes Richmond can vault him up the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points standings. Right now, he ranks 11th – 146 points behind 24-year-old standings leader Kyle Larson.
“(Richmond is) only a three-quarter-mile oval, but it has really high speeds that makes it fun for us drivers and makes excitement that’s fun for a fan,” Busch said. “Martinsville is a short track and it’s slow, but Richmond is pretty quick.”