KYLE BUSCH WINS NASCAR RACE AT BRISTOL

On Saturday, Kyle Busch was livid after a screwup by his pit crew cost him a chance at victory in the Nationwide Series race at Bristol.  On Sunday, however, he rebounded with a dominant performance on the Tennessee short track to win the Food City 500.  Busch led 378 of the 503 laps but, ironically, needed an assist from his much maligned pit crew at the end due to a ‘green-white-checkered- finish.

The victory was the third straight for the Busch family—older brother Kurt won at Las Vegas and Kyle won the previous race in Atlanta.  With both Busch brothers known for their ability on NASCAR’s ‘short tracks’ there’s a better than average chance for the family to make it four in a row when the series heads to Martinsville, WV next weekend.  The Busch’s are the third set of brothers to win four straight races, joining Tim and Fonty Flock—who did it on their own in 1955 and with brother Tim Flock in 1952—and Herb and Donald Thomas in 1952.  With the growth of the sport away from its southern roots into a national sporting spectacle, however, the Busch brothers’ achievement is all the more impressive.

Based on Kyle Busch’s post race comments, all is forgiven with his pit crew:

"They appreciate what I do behind the wheel. I appreciate what they do on pit road. That's a given in any team. Those guys should hang their head for Saturday, but then wake up the next morning rejuvenated and ready to go.

"There's ways to get better in this sport, and the only way to do that is to jump back out there. It's basically reviewing your fear. You just get back out there and do it over again."

"We should have won here last fall, we should have won here yesterday. This place probably owes me a few. But you can never ask a race track to pay you back. You just have to just keep working on it."

Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin finished second.  Hamlin noted that he knew he had his hands full trying to catch up to the #18 Toyota on a short track:

"He just has a way of taking off really, really good on the short run. I knew unless we got out on pit road ahead of him on that last pit stop, it was going to be tough."

Jimmie Johnson tied his career best finish at Bristol by finishing third, with Jeff Gordon fourth and Kasey Kahne fifth.  The older Busch brother, Kurt Busch, finished 11^th.

NASCAR heads to the short track at Martinsville, WV next week before racing at Texas on April 5^th and Phoenix on April 15^th.