Freshrubber Blog

Kyle Busch pulled away from Matt Crafton in the closing laps to easily win the O’Reilly 200 truck series race Wednesday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch passed Jason White for the lead on lap 124 and then steadily pulled away from Crafton after the race’s final caution period on lap 175.

Driving the No. 51 Toyota for Billy Ballew, it was Busch’s second straight win at the .533-mile short track and his third victory of the season. He has 12 victories overall in the three NASCAR national touring series this season. Sportsillustrated

Kyle Busch discussed his interest in being a team owner in one of NASCAR’s top series “down the road.” From what we are hearing, “down the road” might mean 2010. There have been rumors in the past about Kyle Busch either buying out current Truck Series owner Billy Ballew or starting his own team from scratch. Busch has been driving trucks for Ballew since the 2005 season, and it is widely known that he is not paid by BBM and takes none of the winnings. Now it appears that Busch could be competing against Ballew next season. — NASCAR Insiders

                                                                                                                                                                Photo Rusty Jarrett/­Getty Images

Heading into the Kroger 200 Nationwide Series race at O’Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday night, Kyle Busch is on pace to make Nationwide Series history.

With his Series-leading six wins this season, he seems to be on target to possibly breaking the record for most wins in a season. Busch currently shares the record of 10 wins in a season. His 2008 season, during which he posted 10 wins, ties Sam Ard’s number from 1983. Examiner

It was another Nationwide Series race and another win for Kyle Busch in the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 Saturday night at Gateway International Raceway. The victory was Busch’s sixth of the season but his first in three tries at Gateway.

“They (the No. 18 Joe Gibbs racing team) gave me a great racecar,” Busch said. “We didn’t qualify as well as we wanted to, maybe because of the draw, maybe because of the setup in qualifying trim, but we were steady all night.” Examiner

Kyle Busch hasn’t mellowed following his last-lap accident at Daytona that sent him into the wall, and then the infield care center — even as points leader Tony Stewart says all is fine between the two former teammates.

Busch claimed Stewart “dumped him,” or, caused him to wreck, and questioned if drivers should be allowed to win if they cause an accident that lets them take the lead.

“I think NASCAR can take a step in looking at it, and if the second-place driver bumps the leader, then black-flag (him),” Busch said Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway. “He doesn’t get the win.”  Sportsillustrated

As soon as he checked his rearview mirror and saw the swirl of pinballing cars getting farther and farther away, Kyle Busch knew that on a day in which there was one wreck after another, the blame for the biggest of them all would fall at his brake pedal. The hate overflowed anyhow. “Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens,” said Truex, 24th in the points after finishing 37th. “He decided he wasn’t going to lift [off the gas pedal]. He was going to turn me on the straightaway for no good reason at all.” After watching the replays from the Care Center with his No. 83 Toyota done for the day, Brian Vickers, 17th in the points and five spots out of the Chase, came to a quick conclusion. ???It looked like the 18 was completely impatient,?????? he said.  Boston Globe

Lately, Kyle Busch has dominated a lot of Nationwide Series races, leading the most laps, only to fall short of victory lane near the end. In Saturday’s Camping World RV Rental 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, that’s exactly what happened to his teammate Joey Logano. Logano led more than half the laps and then watched as Busch pulled away to more than a half-second lead on his way to the win.

It was Busch’s fifth Nationwide Series win in a season that has seen him lead more than half of the total laps ran so far.  Examiner

After Kyle Busch won Saturday’s race, he crawled through his window and pumped his fists as he jogged to get the checkered flag. Though there were some cheers, there were also plenty of fans who booed and turned their thumbs to the ground. “Whether it’s one-finger salutes or thumbs-up or whatever,” Busch said, “it’s all good.” Or is it? When Busch was younger he seemed genuinely unaffected by the catcalls. But on Saturday, each statement like the one above was followed by one that made it sound like Busch just wanted to be loved. “For me, it’s fun to go out there and play the villain role sometimes,” Busch said, “and be liked other times.” — Free Lance-Star