Kurt Busch

The 21-season veteran was left without a team when Chip Ganassi Racing withdrew from NASCAR at the end of last season. Busch was one of the top free agents in the market when 23XI Racing came calling. The relatively new team had plans to expand to two cars in 2022 and Busch was the driver they wanted for their expansion plans. He'll take over the No. 45 Toyota for the Denny Hamlin-Michael Jordan joint venture and look to put them on the right path for growing the team. Busch brings over 750 Cup Series starts to the table and 33-career victories. He's the perfect pick to stabilize this new team and to push them to new heights. Busch's recent trend line indicates about 1 win and 15 Top-10 finishes are a reasonable expectation for this team in 2022. He'll be paired with Billy Scott at crew chief and the two will look to hit the ground running in the upcoming season.

After another successful campaign with Chip Ganassi Racing, Busch signed an extension through the 2021 season to stay with the No. 1 Chevrolet team. The veteran driver racked up one win and 19 Top-10 finishes last year and posted another season similar to his previous four. That type of consistency year-to-year makes Busch one of the easiest drivers in the Cup Series to forecast. He's captured at least one victory and north of 15 Top 10s in every season since 2014. The 42-year-old, 20-season veteran is showing no signs of slowing down. Still, the clock is ticking on his productivity vs age index. Busch will turn 43 during the middle of this season, and there is some reason to begin watching closely. While we don't expect him to fall off a cliff in terms of production, he should still grab comparable numbers to 2020. It could be that this season becomes his last racing full-time at NASCAR's top level, and he plans to go out racing at a very competitive level.

After a successful transition to Chip Ganassi Racing last year, Busch returns for season two in the No. 1 Chevrolet. The 20-year veteran grabbed one victory (Kentucky) and 18 Top-10 finishes last year in a good campaign. Busch didn't drive as far into the Chase for the Cup as he would have liked, but the effort was good enough to earn a multi-year extension with Ganassi. At 41-years-old Busch is approaching elder statesman status in NASCAR's top division. With 684-career starts and 31 victories, Busch has etched his name among some elite company. The veteran driver will once again be paired with crew chief, Matt McCall, and the duo will look to post an even better campaign in season two at CGR. We should see some modest improvement in Top-10 totals and a deeper drive into the playoffs for Busch in 2020.

Busch moves on after a successful five-season run at Stewart Haas Racing. He'll pilot the No. 1 Chevrolet of Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019, replacing the longtime driver, Jamie McMurray, in that ride. Busch is coming off his fifth-consecutive season with at least one victory, and 22 Top-10 finishes. The veteran driver made a good run into the Chase and wound up seventh overall in the final standings. We expect Busch to make sort of a sideways move performance-wise in the move to Ganassi. It's a one-season deal for the 40-year-old driver, and he'll bring primary sponsor, Monster Energy, to the team. Busch will partner with crew chief Matt McCall and hope to boost this team's performance over their lackluster 2018 campaign. It would be surprising to see Busch exceed the season he just posted, but we expect a slight downturn in his statistical numbers in 2019.

Busch resigned with Stewart Haas Racing last December. He'll return to the No. 41 Ford team along with primary sponsor Monster Energy. The veteran driver made a big splash to start last season by winning the 2017 Daytona 500, but everything after that was pretty shaky. Busch struggled with consistency issues, and only posted 15 Top-10 finishes. He wound up a lowly 14th in the final driver standings. Busch will look to hit the reset button in 2018 with new crew chief Billy Scott. The 39-year-old driver should get back to 20 or more Top-10 finishes in the upcoming season, and a points finish inside the Top 10. The team has a lot of work to do, and Ford has some catching up to do in terms of speed, but Busch has the experience to guide this team back into the Top 10.

Busch is the second-best driver in the Stewart Haas Racing stable. He's been very consistent since his move to this team three seasons ago. The veteran driver has averaged 1.5 wins, 10 Top-5 and 21 Top-10 finishes over the last two seasons alone. That's been good enough to earn eighth- and seventh-place finishes respectively in the driver standings those two years. The SHR stable is moving from Chevrolet to Ford in 2017, so there could be some growing pains early in the season. However, crew chief Tony Gibson and Busch have some excellent chemistry and they should be able to work through these challenges. We expect another season with a win or two for the No. 41 SHR team and yet another berth in the Chase for the Cup once we get to Chicago in September.

While Busch spent much of last season trying to get out of his teammate Kevin Harvick's shadow, there's a lot of good to point to for the immediate future. Busch started the season with a three-race suspension right out of the gates, but he shook that setback off and turned in his best campaign since 2009. The driver of the Stewart Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet grabbed two victories and 21 top-10 finishes in that 33-race slate. It now appears that the embattled driver has his personal life and racing career in a good place and under control. With veteran crew chief Tony Gibson returning to lead the team again in 2016, the sky's the limit. Busch could easily exceed this spot in the final driver standings.

The move to Furniture Row Racing will give this veteran driver a new start in the upcoming season. We got a preview of what Busch and his new team is capable of at the end of 2012. Busch collected three straight Top-10 finishes with the No. 78 Chevrolet team. Those results are very encouraging and pointing to a much better 2013 season. The equipment and experience of this single-car team could propel Busch back to victory lane or even an outside shot at making the Chase for the Cup field. One thing is for certain, the misery of the 2012 campaign will be long forgotten once Busch gets up and rolling with the FRR team.

Busch fills the seat of the legendary Rusty Wallace in the #2 car. Busch has a championship and many wins to his credit in his short Nextel Cup career, but we don't think Busch's first season with Penske will be an easy ride.