Whether you love him or hate him, there is no denying that Kyle Busch is one of the best modern-day drivers at Bristol Motor Speedway. He took his third straight NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) victory at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday. Busch faced challenges from Matt Kenseth and Kevin Harvick throughout the race, but he was able to hold them off in route to victory.
“We really had to change our car a lot today. Adam (Stevens, crew chief) made some really good calls on the pit box and tried to get me freed up and trying to get me to where I could roll and make some speed up. This Monster Energy Toyota Camry was awesome.” Busch said.
This was Busch’s win was Busch’s 65th career and 54th driving a Camry in the NNS.
Kyle Larson started the day out front, but by Lap 3, it was another Kyle leading the way. Busch didn’t take off from there however, as Matt Kenseth ran him down and passed him with the help of some lap traffic on Lap 30.
Kenseth controlled the field for much of the middle portion of the race. He didn’t face another challenge for the top spot until 90 laps remained.
“We had a good car early in the whole race and just kind of got picked in lapped traffic. I was being as aggressive as I could without wrecking. Kyle (Busch) got by me in lapped traffic and that was kind of the difference honestly.” Kenseth said.
Ryan Reed’s tough start to the season continued in the race as he took another hard hit. Slight contact from James Buescher sent the No.16 car spinning into the frontstretch wall where he made very hard contact. Reed was okay.
The final caution of the day came out with 14 laps to go which gave the field one last shot at Busch. However, no one was able to successfully challenge Busch as he pulled away in the final laps in route to his second NNS victory of the season.
Busch will look to sweep the weekend at Bristol for the third time in his career on Sunday. If this performance was any indication, Busch will be a major threat when the Sprint Cup cars take to the high banks of Bristol.
“I think if we race tomorrow with no rain, I think tire wear isn’t going to be a problem, but I think with a little bit of rain I think you’ll see the first run on tires for guys is going to be a little bit worse than the rest of the race. Whenever that happens, we’ll find out.” Busch said.
The thought is that fans won’t turn up if the cup guys don’t race in N/W. That is the exact reason I didn’t go to the N/W race in Phx. It is always a benefit for one of these: Busch, Keselowski, Kenseth or Harvick.
Ho. Hum.