Getty Kyle Busch can make NASCAR history in 2023.
2023 will mark Kyle Busch’s first season with Richard Childress Racing. If he achieves success in the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro, he will hit multiple historic NASCAR Cup Series milestones.
The biggest milestone will require a win. If Busch reaches Victory Lane during the 2023 season, he will break his tie with Richard Petty. The two former champions are in a tie for the most consecutive seasons with at least one win (18). One win would put Busch in sole possession of the top spot and further solidify his Hall of Fame resume.
Will Busch achieve this goal? He will enter the season with a solid opportunity. He will take over the No. 8 Chevrolet that reached Victory Lane three times with Tyler Reddick as the driver. He will also join forces with Randall Burnett, the crew chief that made the No. 8 team competitive nearly every week.
Busch Can Pass Jimmie Johnson on Another List
GettyKyle Busch htalks to media members at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
While Busch will need to reach Victory Lane to make NASCAR history, he will need to lead numerous laps to reach another milestone. He needs to lead 92 laps to reach 19,000 in his career.
Busch currently leads all active drivers with 18,908 laps led. He is more than 3,000 ahead of Kevin Harvick and more than 5,000 ahead of former teammate Denny Hamlin.
The two-time champion is 10th on the all-time laps-led list, and he is well within reach of another prominent driver. Jimmie Johnson is ninth with 18,941 laps led while Rusty Wallace is eighth with 19,951 laps led.
Having Johnson return to the Cup Series for a part-time schedule should add some intrigue to this battle, but Busch should still be able to overtake the seven-time champion. He has never led fewer than 300 laps in his entire full-time career, and he has topped 1,000 laps led 10 times.
Top-10 Finishes Will Be on the Menu
GettyKyle Busch prepares for a race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Busch has big plans for his move to Richard Childress Racing. He explained during the NASCAR Awards that he wants to emulate Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, two NFL quarterbacks who won championships after high-profile moves to other teams.
Winning is the ultimate goal, but securing top-10 finishes will help Busch move up another leaderboard. He is currently 13th all-time with 355, but he can move past multiple retired drivers with a consistent season.
Terry Labonte is 12th all-time with 361 top-10s while David Pearson is 11th with 366. Overtaking both is realistic considering that Busch has posted at least 13 top-10s every single season of his career.
Whether Busch can crack the top 10 on the all-time list will be more in question. He needs 17 top-10s to tie Buck Baker and 19 to tie both Ricky Rudd and Jimmie Johnson.
Busch posted 17 top-10s during the 2022 season while dealing with some unexpected mechanical issues. This snapped a streak of six seasons where Busch had at least 20 top-10s.
There are numerous other lists where Busch can make big moves during his first season with Richard Childress Racing. He can potentially pass multiple drivers on the list of top-five finishes, and he can try to crack the top 20 on the list of all-time pole wins with three.