"It hurt": When Kyle Busch's wife Samantha opened up on 'the most emotional year' their family endured in 2012

In 2013, after Kyle Busch won the Cup race in Texas, his wife Samantha shared her thoughts on his difficult season in 2012. Throughout the whole season in 2012, Busch only managed to get in the victory lane on one occasion.

He won at Richmond in April and couldn't taste victory for the entire year despite coming close many times, reflected by his multiple finishes inside the top five.

But in 2013, Kyle Busch followed up his two back-to-back top 5 finishes at Las Vegas and Bristol with a win at Auto Club, which was then followed by a top 5 at Martinsville, and then another win at Texas.

Speaking after his win at Texas, his wife Samantha opened up on how difficult the previous season was for the Buschs. She told USA TODAY Sports:

"Last year, he wanted to win so bad it hurt. It was the most emotional year we've ever been through. To come into this year and have it be so amazing, you just keep thinking, 'How awesome is this?'"

Kyle Busch also remarked that for whatever reason, he was suffering from "a funk" in 2012.

And despite trying very hard to change things they were doing as a team, he would have a good run and then two bad runs, and could never make up the ground he was losing "with the bad races".

Kyle Busch reflects on not winning a race in 2024 for the first time since his rookie season in 2005

Ever since his debut in 2005, there hadn't been a single season Kyle Busch hadn't won at least one Cup race, until 2024. In the last season, Busch's long winning streak came to an end as he ended the year without a single win driving the #8 RCR Camaro.

This was something that Busch admitted to be "certainly frustrating" and something he hadn't hoped for after registering three wins in his first year with RCR in 2023.

"This year, just seemingly not being able to get the monkey off our back. I mean, even having a shot to win late in the day and being close at Daytona and maybe even closer at Kansas and just not being able to pull through. We probably had a handful of opportunities that slipped out from under us. So can’t say that we shouldn’t have won this year or never had an opportunity to, but obviously didn’t get it done," Busch was quoted as saying by NASCAR.

Having said that, Kyle Busch remarked that he was happy with making the winning streak record his own after 2023. He further acknowledged that it's just as difficult even for drivers who have won races for 17 or 19 years in a row.

With that said it'll be interesting to see if Kyle Busch can bounce back to the winning ways in the upcoming season.