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FORT WORTH, TEXAS – OCTOBER 28: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Zombie Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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FORT WORTH, TEXAS – OCTOBER 28: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Skittles Zombie Toyota, drives during the NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
Kyle Busch has a big NASCAR season ahead as he aims to forget the disappointments of the 2020 season. If history is any indication, Busch is more than capable of dominating in 2021. However, to do so, he needs to focus on significantly improving in one area more than others – his performance at road courses.
NASCAR has added as many as seven road course races to its 2021 schedule and visits some tracks for the very first time. Looking at the younger Busch brother’s recent road course form, he has a lot of work to do if he wishes to dominate the regular season.
Busch has four finishes of 30th place or lower in his last six road course races. Three of those races were held at the Charlotte Roval, and one each at Daytona road course, Sonoma, and Watkins Glen. All four tracks are on the 2021 Cup Series calendar.
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Why Kyle Busch is capable of turning around his recent form
The first of the above-mentioned six-race run was at the Roval, in September 2018. However, before that, Busch finished inside the top 10 in eight consecutive road course races, with four each at Watkins Glen and Sonoma. Of those eight top-10 runs, five were inside the top five, including a win.

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MARTINSVILLE, VIRGINIA – NOVEMBER 01: Kurt Busch, driver of the #1 Monster Energy Chevrolet, Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Toyota, and Cole Custer, driver of the #41 HaasTooling.com Ford, race during the NASCAR Cup Series Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)
He also has four wins on road courses in all in his Cup career. So, Busch is highly capable of producing some great results at these tracks, but his form in the last two years would bother him a bit.
Among the seven tracks on the schedule for the upcoming season, NASCAR has raced just once at the Daytona road course. Busch finished 37th on the day and had a very bad outing.
The Circuit of the Americas (COTA), Road America, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course are all new tracks on the NASCAR schedule, unknown to most drivers.
Among the others, Busch has four top-five finishes, including a win, in his last five races at the Sonoma Raceway. In the three races at the Charlotte Roval, Busch finished outside the top-30 on all occasions.
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Busch leads the field on a major stat on road courses
While drivers like Chase Elliott and Martin Truex Jr. are overwhelming favorites on road courses, Kyle Busch does have the lead in one important stat among the more experienced drivers. Of the current Cup Series field, the Joe Gibbs Racing star has led most laps on road courses, with 364.

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LAS VEGAS, NV – MARCH 01: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, Adam Stevens, crew chief of the #18 M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Chocolate Bar Toyota, during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 1, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
Busch’s exploits on road courses in the last four to five years are a bag of some seriously mixed results. While his recent form does not present the best picture for him, many results before that suggest he is certainly capable of winning such races.
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All in all, if Kyle Busch is to record another multi-win season, and challenge for his third Cup title, he will have to find a way of being consistent on a road-course-heavy calendar.
READ MORE – Why Joe Gibbs Racing Great Kyle Busch is Poised to Have a Highly Successful 2021 NASCAR Season
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