5 Times Las Vegas Almost Brought Home a Championship

#2 Kurt Busch almost wins a championship in 2002

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYgMpRzeHEw

Las Vegas native Kurt Busch is one of the most talented drivers in NASCAR history and he has his 2004 Cup Series title to prove it. He could have probably had a second championship if it wasn’t for a 2002 crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. That incident dropped him from fifth in the standings, all the way down to tenth. The next two weeks he would suffer back-to-back engine failures at Watkins Glen and Michigan International Speedway.

This dropped him to 12th in the standings with only 13 races to go in that season. That virtually killed any chance he had at making a run at the title and left him playing catchup for the rest of the season. He did make it interesting by notching five top-tens in the next seven races and winning two events in a row, but those three straight finishes outside really hurt him. Busch ended up winning the final race of the season at Homestead Miami and if he hadn’t had those engine failures, he might have won a championship that year.