Father Time may be slowly encroaching on the invincible Kyle Busch

If Kyle Busch and the No. 8 team haven't already hit the panic button, it's time to do so.

Busch may not be in a mathematical "must-win" situation with seven races remaining in the Cup Series regular-season, but a 27th-place finish at Nashville now leaves the two-time Cup Series champion 19th in the Cup Series playoff standings, 104 points behind 16th-place driver Alex Bowman.

Nashville marks the seventh race in a row that Busch has failed to finish inside the top-10, with his best finish over the seven race span being a 12th at Sonoma.

While 2024 has easily been the worst season of Busch's legendary career, it feels as if a season like this was inevitable for the 39 year-old driver, who since winning his second championship in 2019, has slowly declined in performance.

After nixed practice in 2020, Busch struggled mightily, barely keeping his then 16-year winning streak alive at the Texas Motor Speedway in October. In 2021, Busch looked slightly better, winning twice and nearly making the Championship Four.

While 2022 turned out to be Busch's 15th and final year with Joe Gibbs Racing, it would not be a happy sendoff. Busch only won one race — a fluky victory at the Bristol Dirt Race on Easter — and was knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. Busch's swan song season with JGR also included multiple engine failures and a horrendous race at the Martinsville Speedway in October, where Busch ran 30th on speed for much of the day.

2023, though, seemed go bring hope for the veteran — he won three of his first 15 races with Richard Childress Racing, immediately being billed as a championship contender. While the second half of 2023 bore little fruit, 2024 was expected to yield more wins and a potential championship push for the No. 8 team.

Instead, it's been exactly the opposite.

Busch only has two top-fives and five top-10's through the first 19 events of 2024, and the cars under him have been painfully slow. While some blame can certainly be placed on a Richard Childress Racing organization that has clearly taken a step back, it appears that Busch's status as an aging veteran is finally getting the best of him.

Father Time has always been especially cruel to NASCAR's legends. Whether it be Jimmie Johnson, Darrell Waltrip or Richard Petty, few of NASCAR's greats have ever been consistently competitive towards the end of their careers.

If big changes aren't made by Busch or his race team, the once-invincible Kyle Busch could find himself being guided into a painful retirement — with none other than Father Time himself pulling the strings.