Kyle Busch fans have something to rejoice about this week.
Not only was the Las Vegas native honored by the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame as Racer of the Year, but he won his fifth consecutive Nationwide race at Texas Motor Speedway. In the last five races, he has led 810 of the 1000 laps raced.
This makes Busch the third driver in the series’ history to win five consecutive races at one track. The other two drivers are Dale Earnhardt Sr. (Daytona) and Jack Ingram (South Boston Speedway in Virginia).
Also, thanks to Busch’s win, along with fellow JGR teammate Denny Hamlin’s Sprint Cup win earlier in the day, it is the first time a team has one a Nationwide and Cup win in the same day.
BUSCH BROTHER RECAPS
Kyle Busch
Nationwide: Busch has four NNS wins in a row and was hoping to make history by making it five in a row with a win at TMS this weekend. In the first practice, Busch posted the fifth fastest time. He took third in qualifying, behind pole-sitter and teammate Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer. He led more than half of the race, for a total of 153 of the 200 laps, clinching his “drive for five.” In usual form, Busch and teammate Joey Logano finished 1-2, despite Busch coming out of the pits third before the last restart.
Cup: After qualifying seventh in the Cup race, Busch was honored as Racer of the Year by the Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame. He held his own, staying in sixth until the competition yellow after lap 25. He had a great pit stop and came off pit road third. On the restart, he moved up to second immediately. By lap 57, something had begun to go wrong and he had fallen to seventh. Just four laps later he had fallen further back to 12th. After a caution on lap 76, he was 17th. He improved after the next caution on lap 100, coming off pit road 13th. 25 laps later he as in eighth, flip flopping between being in and out of the top 10. On lap 165, the team discussed taking the car to the garage to fix whatever seemed to be wrong with it but kept it on the track and made adjustments on the green flag stops. With 117 laps to go, he came in with a very loose car during green flag pit stops. On lap 231, he was ninth. With 36 to go, and after a cycle of green flag pit stops, he was 14th. On lap 310, he came out of the pits sixth, his highest position since early on in the race. After the big wreck on lap 317, he was fourth. He crossed the finish line third after being passed by Jimmie Johnson with two laps to go.
Kurt Busch
Read the rest of this article at LV NASCAR Examiner.
This article originally published at examiner.com and republished with permission from the author.
Photo courtesy of Chris Graythen/Getty Images via nascarmedia.com.
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