Kyle Busch aims to shake drought on the road

The circumstances are different, but the statistic is still the same.

In 2015, Kyle Busch arrived at Sonoma Raceway just four races back from the serious leg injuries he had suffered in Daytona. Not completely healed, Busch was still hurting. He was also winless and hoping to pull off a miracle to make the playoffs.

Sunday afternoon Busch will again seek a much-needed victory at Sonoma. Through the season's first 15 races, Busch, like all of his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, is disappointingly winless and a playoff spot, while not out of reach, is not a guarantee either.

"That weekend was certainly a good start to our championship run," Busch recalled of his 2015 Sonoma win. "To go out there and win the race after where we were after Michigan the previous week, it gave us all the confidence that we still had a shot to win the (playoffs). We thought getting the win would be the hardest part, but it was really not expected at Sonoma."

The victory was Busch's second at the 12-turn road course. In 12 starts, he has four top-10 finishes and 107 laps led.

Tire falloff and track position have been the big raceday topics already this weekend. Some drivers like Martin Truex Jr. felt the tires dropped off "very fast" during practice, most likely leading to quite a few pits stops for the race. The race will also be run in some of the hottest temperatures of the season, which could result in a slick course.

"Sonoma is a place where you can't necessarily run 100 percent every lap," Busch said of handling the conditions. "You've got to hold yourself back a little because the tires just won't withstand running on it as hard as you can every single lap with the falloff. The better you can take care of those tires, and the more you take care of yourself, then the more you take care of your car.

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"I'm sure there will be some hot tempers there when it's hot, too, like there typically is at a short track. And this, to me, is like a road course, short–track race where there's going to be some beating and banging and moving some people out of the way, for sure."

Busch qualified fourth for the Toyota Save / Mart 350, admitting afterward he expected to be a little bit faster. However, Busch is confident his car is fast enough for the race, as he has often been this year with nearly 800 laps led and four top-three finishes.
Something not expected to change just because the field will be going left and right this week.

"We've had times at Sonoma where we've been up front and haven't been able to hold onto it, and other times when we had the right strategy, and we were in the right place at the right time," Busch said. "We've had some bad luck recently, so we're hoping we can get a good run with our M&M's Caramel Camry and maybe finally get that win we've been looking for."