It was February 18, 2012. Under the lights at Daytona, Kyle Busch delivered a performance that fans still remember vividly. The Budweiser Shootout wasn’t a points race but a showcase of raw talent, bravery, and instinct. Busch, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, danced with disaster all night. He slipped, recovered, pushed past limits, and then stole the win from Tony Stewart on the final lap. The margin? Just 0.013 seconds—the closest finish in the race’s history.
“I don’t know how many times I spun out and didn’t spin out. Amazing race. It was fun to drive when I wasn’t getting turned around. Stab and steer, stab and steer. That’s what you do,” Busch said in Victory Lane, smiling like a man who just survived a tornado and walked out with the trophy. Stewart, Ambrose, and the rest gave props, but everyone knew, only Kyle Busch could have pulled off that kind of control. “I don’t know what the consensus is from everybody else, but I had more fun as a driver tonight than we’ve had in the past,” Stewart said after the race.
The 2012 Shootout was Busch at his fearless best, a master who could drive a stock car on the edge and never fall. That edge, once his playground, now looks like a trap. Fast-forward to today, and that same boldness has turned into heartbreak. Busch has gone 68 races without a win. His car control, once flawless, now seems flawed in the eyes of fans and fellow racers. And Kevin Harvick? He sees something deeper going wrong.
Kevin Harvick’s honest fear for Kyle Busch!
Kyle Busch reached Texas Motor Speedway intending to make a comeback and end his long-standing winless streak. It was Busch’s 40th birthday weekend. He had a fast car, a determined team, and rising momentum. Starting 26th, he climbed into contention with grit and skill. By lap 251, he was in third. Fans leaned forward. The No. 8 Chevy looked ready to fight for the win. But the sketchy Turn 4 had other plans.
In the broadcast booth, Kevin Harvick was calling the race when it happened. He had just praised Busch’s effort on-air when the No. 8 Chevrolet lost control. “The guy right behind him, Kyle Busch. We know how hungry he is to get his car back in victory lane,” Harvick said. Seconds later, Busch’s race ended in heartbreak. Fans called it a jinx, but it was more than that—it was another brutal chapter in a winless stretch that’s starting to look permanent.
After the crash, Harvick didn’t hold back. In his podcast, he explained why Busch keeps struggling in the Next Gen car. “Kyle Busch is so used to being able to drive the old car past its edge and save it. When you get this car past its edge at a place like this, you don’t save it… I think it’s in his mind. He’s thinking, ‘I can save anything,’ and in every other race car he’s driven in NASCAR, he can—whether it’s the truck, and that’s what makes him so great in trucks, or the Xfinity cars, or the old Cup cars. This car doesn’t have that side force to lean on. The way that bump is in Turns 3 and 4, it unloads the car. He wasn’t the only one to spin out like this,” Harvick said.
DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 15: Kevin Harvick, driver of the #4 Busch Light #BUSCHRACETEAM Ford, stands in the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Cup Series 64th Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 15, 2022 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
And the numbers back up the concern. Since winning the Cup title in 2019, Busch’s stats have slowly declined. In 2022, the year of the Next Gen car’s debut, he had 6 DNFs, the most in his career. That year, he only managed one win and finished 13th in points. In 2023, his first year with Richard Childress Racing, he won three times but still had six DNFs. Then 2024 hit, zero wins, five DNFs, and a drop to 20th in the standings. This was the first year when he failed to win a single race.
Meanwhile, so far in 2025, Busch has only one top-5 finish through 12 races, including the Bowman Gray crash. He’s already logged two more DNFs and hasn’t come close to winning. His average finish has hovered above 16. His championship-winning consistency has vanished. The Next Gen car, built to equalize competition, seems to have smothered Rowdy’s instincts. Despite all this, Harvick isn’t rooting against Busch.
In fact, it’s the opposite. “I want Kyle Busch to win so bad. If he does, they’re gonna tear the place down,” Harvick said. Another person on the panel, Kaitlyn Vincie, added, “We’re ready to see the bow again, my man.” The sentiment was unanimous in the FOX booth. Even though Busch has never been NASCAR’s most beloved figure, the desire to see him win again is real. “Because he’s freaking Kyle Busch,” Harvick emphasized.
“Back to the Future” Meets NASCAR
Kyle Busch may be winless, but he’s not forgotten. In fact, NASCAR just featured him in one of its most creative projects in years. As Rowdy searches for redemption on the track, he’s already the star of a different kind of victory lap. NASCAR didn’t just release a press statement to announce the return of the 2026 Championship to Homestead-Miami. Instead, they went full Hollywood. They tapped two-time champion Kyle Busch and fellow veteran Brad Keselowski for a two-minute parody of Back to the Future, and the result was pure entertainment gold.
The video opens moments after Busch’s 2019 Homestead win, the last time the championship was held there. Dressed like Doc Brown and Marty McFly, Busch and Keselowski jump into a time-traveling simulator. Keselowski asks, “What do you want to know?” Busch responds without hesitation, “I want to know if the championship comes back to Homestead-Miami.”
From there, the video races through time, filled with inside jokes. At one point, Keselowski exclaims, “Joey Logano has three championships? Need to stop him.” The skit ends with Busch holding a futuristic newspaper that reads Homestead-Miami 2026. It’s more than a funny video. It’s a nod to history — and a reminder that Kyle Busch was the last driver to win it all at Homestead. NASCAR used him to connect the past and future in one clever, emotional punch. Fans loved it, and it showed Busch still has star power beyond the racetrack.
The post Kevin Harvick Scared of Kyle Busch’s Next-Gen Fate Amid Waiting for Fans to Tear Down Track After Rowdy’s Win appeared first on EssentiallySports.