Kyle Busch: ‘We know we have our work cut out for us’ to win before conclusion of 2024

Kyle Busch goes into Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway searching for his first victory of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. 

As the two-time champion takes to the high banks of South Florida, where he won his two championships with Joe Gibbs Racing in 2015 and 2019, respectively, he carries with him a unique partnership with Straight Talk Wireless, the presenting sponsor of the 34th race of the 2024 season. 

“It’s a unique partnership,” Busch said. “Straight Talk was looking for a driver in the race with a family dynasty like myself. My brother, (Kurt), my dad was a racer. My son’s now racing. It was an easy pair to get us together to talk about an opportunity for a fan to win the chance for a family dynasty of their own.”

This weekend, Straight Talk is offering the chance for a fan to win 100 years of free service through the Family Dynasty Sweepstakes. The winner of the sweepstakes will be announced following Sunday’s race. 

Practice and qualifying for Sunday’s Straight Talk Wireless commenced on Saturday, with Busch ending practice 34th on the speed chart. Busch qualified 17th for Sunday’s race. 

“We come here (to Homestead-Miami Speedway) with a little bit different philosophy,” Busch said. “We’re in the same place that we’ve been in. We lack the grip that we need in order to be able to turn fast laps. It was a learning practice for us. We made a lot of changes. We had to free up our racecar a lot in order to get ready for the race tomorrow, and we’ll keep working at it.”

With three races remaining in the season, Busch has only three opportunities remaining to extend his own record of 19 consecutive Cup Series seasons with at least one win. The streak started in Busch’s rookie season of 2005, and Busch broke the previous streak of 18 seasons — held by Richard Petty — at the Bristol Dirt Race in 2022. 

“Fortunately for me, I’ve won at all three of those tracks (left on the schedule),” Busch said when asked about possibly extending his record. “I’d like to say that any one of them could be a chance for us to go get a win. We’ve practiced and qualified here (Homestead-Miami) already, and we’re a little behind where we want to be. I was hoping we could be in the top 10 in qualifying and see the front a little more clearly, but we’ll work on our racecar.

“Martinsville (is the) short-track package, and Phoenix is also the short-track package. We’ve struggled on those. We know we have our work cut out for us.”

As far as Sunday’s race goes, Busch highlighted a specific manufacturer as one to watch for Sunday. 

“I would say the Toyota guys are favored right now,” Busch said. “They’ve got five of the top 10 (in qualifying). They’re really strong here. I’ve won races in a Toyota here. I would like to think that we can come out of the Straight Talk Wireless 400 with a trophy, but we’re going to have to go through those guys.”

Toyota’s Tyler Reddick topped both the practice charts and qualifying on Saturday, with the 23XI Racing driver set to lead the field to the green flag on Sunday. 2021 champion — and 2022 Homestead winner — Kyle Larson will roll off second, with Busch starting in 17th. 

The Straight Talk Wireless 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway will go green shortly after 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday (Oct. 27) with coverage on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. 

All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.