The Busch brothers have both been very successful at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kurt was always a threat during the early 2000’s. In recent years, Kyle has taken the reigns and been very dominate. In fact, with his dominating win Friday night in the Food City 250, Kyle became the winningest driver at Bristol in the three national series combined.
During a six race stretch from 2002-2004, Kurt piled up four wins, and sixth place and an eighth place. Kurt has a career total of 25 starts, five wins, seven top-5’s, and 14 top-10’s.
In similar fashion, during a six race stretch for Kyle, from 2009-2011, he also scored four wins, a second and a ninth. Kyle has a career total of 17 starts, five wins, eight top-5’s, and 12 top-10’s.
The one advantage Kyle has over his brother is Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series experience. Kyle has scored four wins in Camping World Trucks and six wins in Nationwide. Many of these wins coming in dominating fashion.
In 2010, Kyle completed the weekend sweep at Bristol winning all three races. This weekend he has the opportunity to do so again. Kyle came from being almost a lap down on Wednesday night to win the UNOH 200. He then proceeded to take the entire field to school on Friday on the Food City 250 leading 228 of 250 laps.
Kyle has two hurdles to overcome – first, he tagged the wall in qualifying and will start 43rd. No one has ever won at Bristol starting from the 43rd spot. Second, his brother Kurt. Kurt has been on a roll of late. Kurt’s Furniture Row Racing Team has been making strides in becoming faster and more consistent each week.
The team’s alliance with Richard Childress Racing gave them access to the information and technology they needed to become a front runner. Then you add in Kurt, who fell from grace a few years ago, and has been on a mission to prove himself worthy of a top notch ride in NASCAR’s premier series.
Personality issues were Kurt’s downfall. A confrontation with respected ESPN reporter, Jerry Punch, was the final straw. Kurt found himself looking for a job. He landed with Phoenix Racing, a team that was extremely underfunded compared to the mega teams Kurt had been used to driving for.
After a period of time with that team, he found himself at Furniture Row Racing. FRR is a self-sponsored, independent team based in Denver, Colorado. Kurt brought experience, talent, and determination to the organization. It is a recipe that has worked well, and now they have results to show for it.
The brothers are now in a position to go head to head with their Bristol experience. Kurt will be starting second on Saturday night, and will be attempting to prevent Kyle from sweeping the weekend. Kurt has been on the verge of winning his first race since 2011.
At one time, there seemed to be a family feud between the two. Once in 2007 during an All-Star race at Charlotte they got together and took each other out. In recent years, however, they seem to be getting along very well. Kurt even drove for his brother in a few Nationwide races last season.
With the feud over, Kurt and Kyle both seemingly more mature with an eye on the bog picture, it would make for a fantastic show, if it were to come down to Kurt and Kyle battling each other for the win in the Irwin Tools Night Race. The green flag falls at 7:44pm local time.
If anyone can do it Kyle can.