Defending champion Kyle Busch is going into the 2020 playoffs without a Cup win this season. He will need to do what Tony Stewart did in 2011 if Busch wants to retain his title.
Just like Busch, Stewart went into the 2011 playoffs without a Cup win in the regular season. However, he went on to win five of the 10 playoffs races to win his third Championship title.
The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver knows that he will have to achieve a similar feat if he wants to win a third Championship title.
“I don’t know what changed in his year or what happened, but anything is possible for sure. We’ve seen it done before. Maybe there’s another way of being able to do it again, but this time it will certainly be different than his time was or any time that I’ve ever been in the Playoffs under this structure, being on the outside looking in to try to get through each round. The opportunity is there. That is certainly where we’re at is a Tony Stewart-type performance here and in the final 10 weeks we’ll certainly get it done.
“The last time I checked, we’re still last year’s reigning champions so we’ve got that opportunity to be able to do that. We’ve got the team behind us – the crew chief, the sponsors, everybody that we can make anything happen. We just have to go out there and do it.”
The first race of the playoffs is on September 6 at Darlington Raceway.
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