Kyle Busch is the One to Beat at Bristol Motor Speedway

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Photo - Getty Images

Photo – Getty Images

Overall, no one has more wins at Bristol Motor Speedway than NASCAR driver, Kyle Busch

With all three of NASCAR’s national series’ racing at Bristol this week, there’s only one driver that stands out as the one to beat across the board – Kyle Busch.

And for good reason. Busch has scored five of his 29 career NASCAR Sprint Cup victories at Bristol. In addition to sweeping both Sprint Cup events in 2009, and wins in 2010 and March 2011, Busch captured his first Bristol win in March 2007 and has notched an impressive  eight top-five and 12 top-ten finishes in 19 starts. Busch has also won NASCAR Nationwide races at the world’s fastest half-mile track in March 2006, August 2010, March of 2011, August 2013 and March 2014 for seven wins. He also has notched four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victories at Bristol.

Even more impressive is that Busch capped an elusive trifecta at Bristol by winning the August 2010 Sprint Cup event. At 25 years of age, he swept the slate of NASCAR races at the .533-mile oval that weekend, winning the Truck Series race, along with the Nationwide Series race, before wheeling the No. 18 to victory lane and into the history books in the Sprint Cup race. Busch led four times for a race-high 282 laps in that race. For the weekend, Busch led 514 of a possible 956 circuits.

“I love Bristol, and getting back there running all three divisions is going to be fun again. Being able to get back in the Truck, of course, and then run the Nationwide car and also run the Cup car. We’d love to be able to repeat 2010 – that would be amazing and do another trifecta. But, since they’ve ground that place, it’s not necessarily been my best track, lately. So, I’ve got some work to do to figure out how to get better there and make it happen. We’re excited to have Doublemint on the car this weekend. It’s the company’s 100th anniversary this year and it was on my car for the sweep in 2010, so hopefully we can bring them back to victory lane on Saturday night.”

So with all his success at Bristol, there are the challenges too. Busch’s last Sprint Cup Series win at Bristol was in 2011 at the spring race in March. Since then, Busch has one top-five (2nd March 2013), a sixth in August 2012, and two finishes outside the top-25 with a 32nd-place finish in March 2012 and a 29th-place finish earlier this year in March.

So, while Busch loves racing in the Thunder Valley of Bristol, Tennessee, he understands his most recent races, have been as challenging as his first season racing at the track in 2005. In his first two races at Bristol Busch finished the season with finishes of 28th and 33rd. But that also gives Busch some comfort in knowing that with hard work, challenges are overcome on the way to better results, but it may take a little luck too.

“Like I said, we haven’t been as good since they made the changes in 2012 there, but we have been gaining on it and I’m hoping we can get back to form there this weekend. You really have to be on your game at Bristol. You make one mistake, or someone else makes one mistake, that’s it. We’re hoping things will fall in place this weekend with our Doublemint Camry and we get to victory lane.”

Along with all the hard work and a little luck, it’s possible the numbers are lining up for another Busch trifecta, or at the very least a another Bristol Sprint Cup Series win this weekend. Consider this countdown to the Irwin Tools Night Race.

  • For five years from  2007 through 2011, Busch won five of ten Sprint Cup Series events at Bristol Motor Speedway.
  • It was just four years ago in August 2010, that Busch made history by winning all three NASCAR national series’ races at Bristol
  • Doublemint has sponsored Busch in the Sprint Cup Series at Bristol two times. The first time was Busch’s history-making trifecta weekend culminating with the Cup Series Irwin Tools Night Race on Saturday night.
  • With Doublemint on his No. 18 car, Busch intends on celebrating Doublemint’s One hundred year anniversary on Saturday night in Victory Lane.

For a little more fun with the numbers…

There’s only one person that has the potential to pull off two unique Bristol feats this week. A Bristol three-peat, four years after his first trifecta and cracking his five Bristol Cup wins with a sixth win on Saturday night, which brings him within one win of matching Darrell Watlrip’s record of the most Sprint Cup Series wins – seven.

And Kyle Busch is the one.

Due to rain, the Camping World Truck Series race is taking place Thursday, August 21st at 10 am ET on FOX Sports 1.  

Watch the Nationwide Series race on Friday, August 22nd at 7:30 pm ET. Television coverage on ESPN begins at 7 pm with their pre-race show.

The Sprint Cup Series races on Saturday, August 23rd at 7:30 pm ET. Television coverage on ABC begins at 7 pm with their pre-race show.