What a difference two weeks makes.
Two weeks ago, I sat here and told you that I was pretty confident Kyle Busch would not make the top-30, and as a result, the Chase. I am reconsidering that stance.
I did predict that a win by Kyle soon would re-energize his quest for the top-30…and, on that front, I was right. As we all stood in Victory Lane in Sonoma, calculators were over-heating as we figured what he would have to do to make the Chase now that he had a win.
It's back on the doable list.
I agree with Kyle that the hard part is now taken care of; he has a win. And, as a result, he won't have to press so much to turn top-10 finishes into top-5s.
He still has a big hill to climb. Busch will need to average, roughly, a 14th place finish the next 10 weeks. And, he can't afford any more early exits like at Dover or Michigan. But his win has added a whole bunch of drama to the next 10 weeks; not only watching Kyle try to make the top-30, but, as he gets closer, watching how the winless guys near the bottom of the top-16 will react.