Commentary: Another Daytona, another disappointment for Kyle Busch

As the factory workers on the assembly line utter in regard to the mundane grind of earning a routine paycheck: “Another day, another dollar.”

Kyle Busch is going to need to amend the idiom to say, “Another Daytona, another disappointment.”

Admittedly, it was hard not to feel good for rising 26-year-old star William Byron, who won his first Daytona Delayed-By-Rain 500 on Monday on the 40th anniversary of his powerful Hendrick Motorsports racing team.

But it was harder not to feel awful for aging superstar Kyle Busch, who didn’t win the Daytona 500 for the 19th time … and counting.

I guess this is why we love sports – because they are often so joyously unpredictable and, at the same time, so cruelly unfair.

Kyle Busch is one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history with two championships and 63 Cup victories – the most among active drivers and ninth all-time. Not only that, but he holds the record for all-time combined victories in NASCAR’s three major series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck.

Yet amid the resounding roars of the thunderous engines that make the Daytona 500 “The Great American Race” there is another more somber, silent tune that has turned Daytona into the Great American Regret for Busch. He has driven a stock car like nobody else of his era, but the one championship that has eluded him is the one that means the most.

Don’t kid yourself, the Daytona 500 is the holy grail of racing, and it doesn’t make sense that it remains a conspicuous void in Busch’s Hall of Fame career. Or, actually, maybe it does make sense.

Busch is known for his skill and prowess and his ability to maneuver these 3,000-pound missiles of metal like few ever have. Doesn’t matter what kind of car (or truck), he can drive the wheels off it. Doesn’t matter what kind of track – dirt, superspeedway or road course – he can navigate it with the best of them.

Even though he finished in 12th place, Monday was a perfect example of his skill level. He already was driving his backup car after his primary car was involved in a wreck during the qualifying races. Even so, he was running near the front of the pack with 66 laps to go Monday when he pulled into the pits for a tire change, but one of his crew members fell down and didn’t secure the lug nut on his left front tire.

Busch deftly drove around the entire track on the loose tire and had to pull into the pits again. Even though he was penalized and dropped to the tail end of the lead lap because of the safety violation, he was able to quickly surge back to the lead pack.

But the thing about Daytona is that unquestioned skill often sits in the back seat and gives way to its ugly stepsister – sheer luck. Driving on superspeedways is often a crapshoot where no-name drivers are able to win, but Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers such as Busch, Tony Stewart, Rusty Wallace, Martin Truex Jr. and Brad Keselowski never have. How unjust is it that Derrike Cope (two career wins) and Trevor Bayne (one career win) have won the Daytona 500 but Kyle Busch hasn’t?

Then again, Dan Marino and Fran Tarkenton never won a Super Bowl, but Trent Dilfer and Nick Foles did. As Bill Gates once said, “Life is not fair. Get used to it.”

Of course, Busch still has time. He is 38 years old, and let us not forget that the iconic Dale Earnhardt Sr. was 0-for-19 before he ever won his first Daytona 500 at the age of 46. However, with young up-and-comers like Byron racing for dominant, well-funded teams like Hendrick Motorsports while Busch is now driving for less-formidable Richard Childress Racing, you wonder if Busch’s window of opportunity is closing.

It’s no secret that Busch is annoyingly reminded of his plight every year as he heads to Daytona, and every year he has to answer the same questions about the 500-mile monkey that is perched upon his back.

“Trust me, I’m well aware, thank you very much,” Busch said when asked about his 0-for-Daytona drought. “There’s a lot of (near-misses) that have stung that you still think about. Man, should have, could have, would have.”

Like last year, for instance, when he led after 500 miles, but the race went into overtime because of a caution flag and he finished 19th after getting involved in the requisite wreck that almost always comes in the wild dash for the finish line.

Although Busch is right when he says he has had a great career whether or not he wins the Daytona 500, he acknowledges there is a massive void in his trophy case. Even teammate Austin Dillon and the others who work with him at Richard Childress Racing can sense how much it would mean to him to win the Daytona 500.

“I think everybody at our shop knows that for Kyle this is huge, and we’d like to give him that opportunity,” Dillon told reporters before the race. “Kyle puts extra on this race. He wants it. He’s so good at driving a race car that this race will never define his career, but I know the competitor he is. He wants it bad.”

Sadly and unfairly, he will have to wait another year to try again.

Another Daytona, another disappointment.