By Will Martin
It happens twice a year. Make it three if you include the IRL in June. The months of April and November are ones where the good people of Texas burn rubber to get to as many events as possible since the weather tends to cooperate to most things out doors.
Then there’s that 150,000-half million who will pound the turnstiles at Texas Motor Speedway to see the truck and car series with the numbers 300 and 500 attached. As in number of miles to be driven upon the oval mile and a half track in Ft. Worth.
Being able to see cars and trucks navigate on tough stretches of roadway is one thing. To do so at speeds of over 140 MPH with cars all around is another sight to behold. Then the usual cacophony of fans who come to ‘support Junior, root for Mark, see some fireworks erupt from Tony Stewart,’ etc…
Fans also come to Texas Motor Speedway to see some history made. Like a back to back racing sweep.
At no time in the 16 years prior to the weekend of April 12th and 13th has a racer been successful at winning both the 300 and 500 in one weekend.
Enter Kyle Busch!
Busch’s weekend sweep was the eighth and ninth NASCAR victories of his career at Texas Motor Speedway respectively, making him the winningest driver at the speedway. He owns a track record six Nationwide Series victories, two truck series wins and finally secured his elusive first Sprint Cup Series victory on Saturday evening.
The victory allowed him to become the first driver to win in all three top-tier NASCAR national series at Texas Motor Speedway. It also was his 26th career Sprint Cup Series victory, which came in his 300th start.
“I’m glad the monkey is off our back,” Busch said after his victory. “We’re riding a wave right now that’s 30-feet tall and ready to keep riding.”
In achieving this accomplishment Kyle Busch also added something else to his Texas resume: The fastest speed for a qualifying race time. His mark of 196.299 MPH eclipses the mark set by Brian Vickers in 2006 which was 196.235.
NRA 500 winner Kyle Busch became the third driver in Texas Motor Speedway history to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race from the pole. The others that went wire to wire were Kasey Kahne in this event in 2006 and Jimmie Johnson in last fall’s AAA Texas 500.
Kay Robertson and John Goodwin, stars for the A&E hit reality show Duck Dynasty, introduced the top-10 drivers during the pre-race activities for the NRA 500. … Brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch qualified first and second, respectively, for the NRA 500. It was just the second time the two have started on the front row together, the first coming on March 1, 2009, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when Kyle started on the pole and Kurt was second.
Kyle Busch’s early-season dominance in the Nationwide Series has set a new bar. His win in Friday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 was his fourth in the first six races, allowing him to become the first Nationwide Series driver in history to accomplish the feat.
Bring On November! Bring on the IRL in June! I’m there!