Kyle Busch gives fans reason to believe at | Sports News

Kyle Busch was full of optimism at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday after qualifying in twelfth place for the Cook Out 400.

Busch and his Richard Childress Racing (RCR) workforce appeared to have misplaced momentum after a promising begin to the season over the previous two weeks, with deeply disappointing outcomes at Las Vegas and Homestead Miami.

But the No. 8 crew was back on monitor in Virginia for the primary short-track race of the marketing campaign, qualifying much less than a tenth of a second off the tempo of pole-sitter Christopher Bell.

Busch, 39, has gone 63 Cup Series races with out a victory – the longest winless streak of his esteemed profession – however the two-time Cup Series champion has reason to believe higher days are forward.

After a tough day at Daytona to begin the season, Busch put collectively three consecutive top-10 finishes at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Circuit of the Americas and Phoenix Raceway earlier than the brutal days in Sin City and Homestead.

While RCR lacked outright tempo at Homestead-Miami, the No. 8 was in rivalry for a top-five lead to Vegas, solely to come undone due to a dashing penalty and a indifferent rear wheel, which led to the suspension of two crew members.

Busch has put these disappointments to the back of his thoughts and he’s assured of a good outcome at Martinsville.

“We had some good stuff going,” Busch mentioned after Saturday’s qualifying session. “Vegas, we were fast. I felt like we were legit a top-four car let the race play out. Then, obviously, Homestead was a complete miss. It looked identical to last year.

Don’t miss

“You could replay the 2024 and 2025 Homestead and see the Hendrick cars all having some pretty good speed, the Trackhouse and RCR cars running in the back. We’re literally passing each other for 30th on the racetrack. That’s not good.

“There’s something to be said for that and I’m not exactly sure what. But now we’re here at Martinsville with a completely different package, so hopefully this will go better.”

Busch praised the efforts of his crew after Saturday’s qualifying session, however he emphasised the need to “work smarter, not harder.”

“It’s definitely not due to lack of effort, that’s for sure,” Busch added. “Everybody works very hard; I know the long hours and everything that everybody does.

“The only thing I can really say is, fundamentally, it’s just work smarter, not harder. I think part of it has been better. One [bad] week at Homestead, we can’t focus [on that].”