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Kyle Busch Tops List Of 5 Cup Series Drivers Who Laid Big, Ugly Egg In 2025

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
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Kyle Busch

Every NASCAR season produces its share of drivers who overachieve and those who grossly underperform.

The 2025 Cup Series campaign was certainly no exception.

Let’s take a look at the five drivers who laid the biggest egg after coming into the year with high hopes.

1. Kyle Busch

After a wildly disappointing 2024, Kyle Busch believed 2025 had the potential to be much better.

It wasn’t.

The two-time Cup Series champion and third-year Richard Childress Racing driver went winless and missed the playoffs for the second year in a row.

Busch actually regressed in several key performance metrics year-over-year, recording fewer laps led, fewer top-fives, fewer poles, and a worse points finish and average starting position than he did in 2024.

Even a late-season change at the crew-chief position did little to alleviate his struggles. With another season like 2025, Busch — who has just one year left in his arrangement with RCR — will almost certainly be moving on.

At least Busch ended the year with a fifth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway. Unfortunately for the veteran driver, it was one of his few highlights of 2025.

2. Ty Gibbs

Imagine failing to win a race and make the playoffs when your three teammates all make deep playoff runs and combine for a total of 13 victories.

Now imagine being that driver and also being the grandson of the team owner, a NASCAR Hall of Famer.

This year, that was Ty Gibbs, whose grandfather, Joe, enjoyed one of his most fruitful seasons as a team owner.

While teammates Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Chase Briscoe all flourished, Ty Gibbs remained planted firmly on the proverbial struggle bus.

How wide of the mark was Gibbs? Well, by every major statistical measure, he regressed from Year Two to Year Three as a full-time Cup Series driver.

This team will need to do some significant soul searching ahead of 2026, because lagging that far behind your teammates is unacceptable.

3. Brad Keselowski

After making the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, Brad Keselowski took a notable step back in 2025.

Not only did the co-owner/driver for RFK Racing miss the playoffs, but he failed to reach Victory Lane after putting a lengthy losing streak to bed in 2024.

How steep was the dropoff for Keselowski year-over-year? Well, he finished seven positions worse in the standings, led almost 100 fewer laps and posted fewer top-fives and top-10s.

Addressing rumors that he might call it quits from driving after such a tough 2025, Keselowski recently said he’ll be back behind the wheel of his No. 6 Ford in 2026.

But if the 41-year-old driver and former Cup Series champ endures another year like the one he just had, it’s hard not to think his days are numbered.

4. Alex Bowman

Yes, Alex Bowman. And even though he made the playoffs. In at least one way, Bowman’s year at Hendrick Motorsports mirrored Ty Gibbs’ year at Joe Gibbs Racing.

How so?

Well, like Gibbs at JGR, Bowman was the only driver who didn’t go to Victory Lane while three teammates did so multiple times each.

Unlike Gibbs, Bowman gained playoff entry. But he was out after just one round — after just barely getting into the playoffs at all.

Meanwhile, teammate Kyle Larson won the championship, teammate William Byron made the Championship 4 and teammate Chase Elliott reached the Round of 8.

So, Bowman, as is typically the case, spent the season as easily the weakest link at Hendrick. It’s worth noting, too, that after collecting a single win in 2024, Bowman didn’t triumph this year.

That’s not a positive trend, even if he squeaked his way into the playoffs.

5. Noah Gragson

As a NASCAR Xfinity Series driver in 2022, Noah Gragson rang up a series-high eight wins. But over three seasons in the Cup Series, the affable Las Vegas native has yet to find his way to Victory Lane.

The 2025 season marked a new beginning for Gragson, as he joined his third team in as many Cup Series seasons. But he actually fared considerably worse at Front Row Motorsports than he did at Stewart-Haas Racing, where he spent 2024 before the organization suspended operations at season’s end.

How woeful was Gragson this year? Among the 36 full-time Cup Series drivers, he ranked 34th in the final standings. Not good. Not good at all.

Jared Turner Written by Sports EditorJared Turner
Jared Turner is a motorsports writer who has covered NASCAR for 20 years. He has interviewed over 20 NASCAR Hall of Famers and around 100 drivers, crew chiefs, and team owners, both past and present. He has also covered the sport for FOX Sports (where he was a two-time recipient of the FOX “X” Award for “Xtraordinary” job performance), NASCAR.com, Sporting News, NASCAR Pole Position Magazine, the SPEED network, and plenty of other online and print-only publications throughout his career. Notably, Jared has penned dozens of articles for NASCAR souvenir programs, including several featured prominently in Daytona 500 keepsakes. A Virginia Press Association award winner and former member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA), Jared has racked up accolades both for his writing and his academic work. He studied both Communication and Psychology at Virginia Tech, where he was permanently enshrined in Phi Beta Kappa — the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Jared excels at feature writing and opinion writing, much of which stems from his dedication to all levels of racing.
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