In the NASCAR Cup Series, there is no driver with as many wins at Kyle Busch (63), although Denny Hamlin is moving ever-closer.

The 40-year-old Busch won at least one race every year between 2005 and 2023 in his Hall of Fame career. That final year before the impressive streak came to a grinding halt was his very first with Richard Childress Racing, and the two-time Cup champion came out of the gate swinging. After battling for the Daytona 500 win, he earned his first victory with RCR in just his second start with the team at Auto Club Speedway.

Busch went on to win three of the first 15 races that year, and hopes were soaring for the No. 8 team. That third win came at Gateway on June 4, 2023, leading 121 of 243 laps from pole position. Shockingly, that victory would be the last.

Almost three full years and 100 starts later, Busch has yet to win another Cup race. So, what's happened?

Some point the finger at RCR for struggling to keep up as the larger teams get faster and father, others at Busch's age or his own difficulty in adapting to the wildly different Gen-7 car, or maybe it's a combination of all of these reasons and more.

Regardless, the fact remains that it's been 100 races since Busch won at the Cup level, and it hasn't been for a lack of effort. Here's a look back at the five moments when Busch came closest to securing his long-awaited 64th career win.

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Daytona 2024 -- Passed by an underdog on the final lap

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Darlington 2024 - Just a car length away

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Kansas 2024 -- Spinning from the lead

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COTA 2025 -- A dominant race with a disappointing end 

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Since that last win at Gateway almost three years ago, Busch has seven finishes of either second or third. Busch has led 381 laps since then as well, but he's also been involved in a multitude of incidents as he battles an ill-handling No. 8 Chevrolet most race weekends as of late.

Despite the close calls and other opportunities, the win column remains empty for KB, and 2026 has been a step in the wrong direction. Busch has yet to score a top ten through the first seven races, and neither has his teammate Austin Dillon. He opened the year by earning pole position for the Daytona 500, but that's about it for the No. 8 team, even with a new crew chief on the pit box. Frustrations are high within the organization, and most of the Chevrolet camp seems to have lost a step as they adjust to the updated ZL1 body. 

Busch's win drought enters the triple digits as he arrives in Bristol, a track where he was once unstoppable. The only hat trick weekend sweep in NASCAR history happened at this iconic half-mile, and it was Busch behind the wheel. He has eight Cup wins at Bristol and no active driver comes close to that number, but he has no finish higher than 14th in the Next Gen era at the track (excluding a win on Bristol Dirt in 2022). 

It's also not unheard of to see Cup veterans return to Victory Lane after such a lengthy absence. Brad Keselowski ended a 110-race winless streak at Darlington in 2024. And that's nowhere near the record. Bill Elliott once went an astonishing 226 races (seven years) between race wins later in his career.

But where can Busch finally end this drought and win for the 64th time in the Cup Series? At the moment, the options seem limited to superspeedways, but RCR's most recent triumphs both came at the Richmond short track with Austin Dillon winning there in back-to-back years. We know that Busch has the talent to fight for wins with this No. 8 Chevrolet when it has the pace, but will he get that opportunity again? That remains to be seen...

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It was a JR Motorsports 1-2 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and despite dominating the 2025 NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS) season, few expected Connor Zilisch to prevail on Saturday. That was because of Kyle Larson, who absolutely dominated the entire race until the very end.

Zilisch was one of three drivers who stayed out during a late-race caution, with crew chief Rodney Childers opting to get him the lead — albeit on older tires. After a tense battle with Brent Crews and Larson, Zilisch escaped the the pressure as both slipped up the track. 

"That was awesome," said Zilisch after taking his 12th career NOAPS win. "It's been a tough past few weeks for me in the Cup Series. Feels good to come back down here into the O'Reilly Series and remember that I could still do it. It's tough. You finish in the back every week and you forget who you are. This feels good. 

"We played strategy. Rodney made a great call to keep us out. The tires weren't wearing much all night and we were able to get the track position we needed to go out and win the race. Really cool to be able to race against Kyle and learn from him. He's so talented and such a fast race car driver. It's good to be back with JRM and back in Victory Lane."

"It's great to come down here in to the O'Reilly Series and remember that I can still do it."

Post-race comments from an elated @ConnorZilisch. pic.twitter.com/b3jlG3xCLQ

— The CW Sports (@TheCW_Sports) April 12, 2026

Larson won both stages, leading 230 of 300 laps before the runner-up finish. He congratulated his JRM teammate after the race, and both drivers will now look ahead to racing in the Cup Series on Sunday.

"It's hard when you ran as long as we did, it's hard to stay out," said Larson about the decision to pit. "I was split. I'm sure he was as well. If I stay out, who knows how many people pit -- everybody might pit, and then it looks potentially worse than second."

Behind Zilisch and Larson, Crews finished third, Justin Allgaier fourth, and Carson Kvapil fifth. Sheldon Creed, William Sawalich, Corey Day, Parker Retzlaff, and Taylor Gray filled out the rest of the top ten.

Allgaier also secured the $100,000 Dash4Cash bonus, beating the other three eligible drivers.

Stages 1 and 2

There was an early caution for a spinning Maggio. Soon after, pole-sitter Sawalich lost the lead to Larson, who dominated the rest of the stage.

The next caution was for a slow Austin Green, who was trying to get to the pits with a tire issue. The yellow came out at a great time for Austin Hill, who secured the free pass.

Most of the field chose to pit, but the trio of Clements, Sieg, and Alfredo all stayed out.

With fresh tires, Larson quickly moved through them, winning Stage 1 with ominous speed over the field.

In Stage 2, there wasn't much change as Larson commanded the race. There was a brief caution for two cars spinning at the back of the field, but that was it, allowing Larson to lap a lot of cars. 

He ended up sweeping the stages, winning Stage 2 over Creed and Allgaier.

Stage 3

Logan Bearden had to climb out of the No. 42 car, with relief driver Brad Perez finishing the race for the team.

Larson led the way over Allgaier, and it seemed like no one could keep up with the No. 88 Chevrolet. With just over 100 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for a dramatic engine failure. Mason Maggio's No. 91 car actually erupted in flames in a scary moment. Thankfully, he was okay.

Huge fire erupts after engine failure, halting NASCAR Bristol race

Larson continued to lead until a late-race caution with about 20 laps to go. Larson pitted from the lead along with most of the field, but Zilisch, Crews, and Day stayed out.

Larson was up to third by the time the next caution flew, due to Alfredo crashing into the inside wall. On the final restart, Crews charged from the second row to take the lead on the outside, and held it for a few laps. 

However, Crews' shot of winning for the first time in the O'Reilly Series ended as he got sideways at the exit of Turn 2. Zilisch cleared him, and Larson wasted no time in muscling Crews out of the way for second in his pursuit of the #1 car.

Larson quickly zeroed in on Zilisch, who moved up the track to defend, mirroring Larson's line. As he tried to make up the difference, Larson slid up the track himself and nearly crashed, allowing Zilisch to get away. That was the end of the battle as Zilisch captured the checkered flag.

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Immediately after the race, Christian Eckes could not have been any more contrite about the incident that ended the race at Bristol for Corey Heim and his chance at a $500,000 Triple Truck Challenge sweep.

“That sucked for sure,” Eckes said. “They deserved a half million bucks and I took that away from them. Obviously, it wasn’t intentional to spin (him out) or even hit him. I was just trying to get in line and misjudged it and he ended up wrecking pretty hard. I feel pretty small right now about that.”

Eckes had led the most laps (132) and had led the field back to green but was nudged out of the way by Heim in Turn 3. Eckes then darted hard left and caught the right rear of the Tricon Garage No. 1 and trigger a wrecked that included Heim, Kaden Honeycutt and Layne Riggs.

“I wanted to get behind him to race him and maybe re-pay the favor,” Eckes conceded. “But no intention of getting into him and spinning him. I’m sure he was dragging the brake a little to keep me outside of him. Still, I shouldn’t have turned in until I knew I was completely clear. I feel terrible about that.”

For his part, Heim was diplomatic and gave a one-time championship rival the benefit of the doubt.

“I gave Christian a nudge to get there and I believe he just misjudged it, trying to get back in line and do the same thing to me, which would have been totally fine considering I had just done it to him,” Heim said. “I assuming that he misjudged it so we’re good and crap happens and moving on from it.”

Heim won at Darlington to earn $50,000 and then last weekend at Rockingham to add $100,000 more. Winning this race would have netted the combined $500,000. There were numerous instances of hard racing between Heim and Eckes during their 2023 Truck Series campaigns, including an incident at Indianapolis Raceway Park, but Heim said they texted that night and there was no lingering bad blood.

“I mean, he is probably going to text me and say ‘I misjudge it’ and I'm going to say I know and we're good,” Heim said.

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In real-time, Eckes was told over the radio to ‘punt his ass’ and ‘I guess he wanted to go,’ to which the driver said ‘I can go just as hard.’

Again, Eckes expressed remorse after the race and Heim accepts it.

“We've had one mix up and we discussed it the same night and we were totally fine,” Heim said. “And it's probably going to be the same way today. I don’t think he meant to wreck me. Obviously, I’m frustrated being in the care center but I don’t think he would purposely do something like that.

“Honestly.”

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Seven NASCAR Cup drivers entered Friday's NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, so it's no surprise one of the sport's top drivers captured the win.

Driving for Halmar-Friesen Racing, Christopher Bell won after taking and extending his lead on a late-race restart.

"Oh man, that was just so awesome to be able to win a truck race," said Bell. "It’s been since 2017 I won one of these things. It’s been a lot of fun racing with this group. I got the unfortunate call to drive for Stewart (Friesen, team co-owner) whenever he got hurt, and we went out to Watkins Glen and almost got it. They’ve been working really hard to get to Victory Lane, and whenever they call me about an opportunity to try and run some races, I’m like ‘heck yeah, let’s do it.’ Just so special for me to be able to race with these guys. These wins mean a lot to this organization."

 Chandler Smith finished second for Front Row Motorsports, earning $50,000 as part of the Triple Truck Challenge. Corey Heim could have won all three Triple Truck Challenge races, netting $500,000, but he got turned from the lead during the final stage, dashing his hopes.

Gio Ruggiero finished third, Ross Chastain fourth, and Christian Eckes fifth. Jake Garcia, Dawson Sutton, Kyle Busch, Carson Hocevar, and Brenden Queen filled out the remainder of the top ten.

This is Bell's eighth career win, and his first since his 2017 NCTS title run.

Christopher Bell, No. 62 Halmar-Friesen Racing Toyota

Stages 1 and 2

The first caution of the race was for a spin by Andrés Pérez, but he escaped with only minor damage. Eckes had already taken the lead from pole-sitter Honeycutt, and remained firmly in control.

Eckes went on to win Stage 1 over Riggs, Honeycutt, Rhodes, Garcia, Hocevar, Ruggiero, Briscoe, Chastain, and Busch.

Eckes continued to lead most of the second stage as well, but strategies throughout the field split due to the timing of one particular caution.

Frankie Muniz's special 'Malcolm in the Middle' paint scheme got all torn up after colliding with Tyler Reif. That caution set up a sprint to the end of Stage 2, with a handful of trucks choosing to stay out.

Rhodes won Stage 2 over Busch, Haley, Heim, Bell, Eckes, LaJoie, Honeycutt, Garcia, and Riggs.

Big trouble for Frankie Muniz, Tyler Reif and Timmy Hill at Bristol. https://t.co/P4rSgj6WVjpic.twitter.com/kzBM6DPzkd

— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) April 11, 2026

Stage 3

Busch led the race after staying out, hoping to stretch the fuel all the way to the end. LaJoie, who was running fifth at the time, was handed a penalty for moving out of line before the start/finish line.

A flurry of yellows followed, with Tan. Gray and Perez spinning after contact from the Ram trucks. Both trucks sustained damage. The next caution was for Cole Butcher, who spun in the middle of the pack and then clipped Stenhouse.

Luke Baldwin also went for a spin, and all of these cautions were helping Busch in his mission to save enough fuel. However, while shutting the engine off under caution, the No. 7 Chevrolet wouldn't re-fire for a moment. Since he couldn't maintain pace car spot, Busch was put back to tenth in the restart order.

It was now Eckes and Heim on the front row, with Heim moving Eckes out of the way to take the lead. Moments later, Eckes came down and appeared to turn Heim into the wall, ending his race and a shot at the rest of the $500,000 Triple Truck Challenge prize money.

Honeycutt and Riggs also sustained big damage in that crash, while Eckes radioed to his team that the contact was not intentional. The incident forced a red flag for cleanup.

The leaders make contact! @CoreyHeim_ hits the wall in Turn 1. pic.twitter.com/wwMQ7ExbRW

— NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Trucks (@NASCAR_Trucks) April 11, 2026

On the restart, Bell snatched the lead from Eckes, and led until the next caution, which flew for a spinning LaJoie with 35 laps to go.

However, Eckes couldn't do anything to challenge Bell on the restart, and actually lost several positions as the inside line struggled to get rolling.

Bell then just needed to hold back Smith in the closing laps, never allowing the Front Row Motorsports driver to get too close.

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