March 2, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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Just as he did last season, Kyle Busch seems to have started out the 2009 season in top form, but will he fall off toward the end? He won both the Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck series races last weekend at California, becoming the first man in history to win in two of NASCAR’s top three series on the same day.
Busch contended for the win in both series the week before but came up short by failing to bump his way past Tony Stewart in the Nationwide race and Todd Bodine in the Truck race two weeks ago at Daytona. He made up for his shortcomings at Daytona by dominating the two series at California, leading 95 of 100 laps in the Truck race and 143 of 150 laps during the Nationwide race. And he did have a dominate Cup car at Daytona, but his day ended early when he was caught up in a wreck.
“It's awesome,” Busch was quoted as saying in an AP article on espn.com. “This is just a blast. It's pretty special to beat guys like Carl (Edwards) and Kevin (Harvick). To win here twice in one day is even more special. This was pretty close to a perfect day.”
His recent successes have led to rumors that he is being considered as a candidate for the new Formula 1 team that has been formed in Charlotte by Peter Winsor and Ken Anderson. The new F1 team has planned to begin racing at the start of the 2010 season.
In response to the talk, Busch has stated that he is not interested, at least, not right now. He said that he would like to win a NASCAR Championship first, but doesn’t rule out the possibility at some point in the future. He is also interested in racing in the Indianapolis 500.
“It's something I'd love to give a shot one day. It's not something I would shoot down, but I don't think it's the right time in my career to do something like that,” he said in an article by Terry Blount for espn.com.
Now days, most drivers tend to switch from open-wheel racing to NASCAR, not vice versa, and most of them have limited success in stock car racing, except for Tony Stewart, who has won two Cup championships.
Busch seems pretty confident that he will win a Championship in NASCAR, but sometimes that trophy can be elusive. Halfway through last season, a lot of people had already awarded him the title. He had a little bad luck when the Chase started and never recovered from it.
He won a total of 21 races last year across NASCAR’s top three series and appears to be starting this season off in the same fashion. Will he end this year the same way?
He certainly has the talent to win a title in NASCAR, if he can only keep it together for an entire season. But winning a Championship in NASCAR’s top series is not something to be taken for granted, just ask Mark Martin, a driver who has finished second in the point standings four times but never has won a Championship.
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