And it’s all because of one driver most fans love to hate. His name is Busch. Kyle Busch.The reason for the vitriol is simple. Busch wins, and he’s won with greater regularity of late, regardless of series. First, he swept the weekend April 2 and 3 at Martinsville Speedway, starting with the Camping World Truck Series, then went out and rolled through the field in the Cup race on a track where he had never won before.
Busch was so good, he led 352 of 500 laps on NASCAR’s shortest track, one that can be murder on brakes for those who get overly ambitious.
Then over this weekend, Busch swept aside all challengers in the XFINITY and Sprint Cup races. First, he led 150 of 200 laps in winning the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300, then endured a two-hour rain delay and won the Duck Commander 500.
Even more frustrating for those who aren’t fans of the 18, Busch only led the last 34 laps of the Cup race. It doesn’t matter how many laps you lead, as long as you lead the last one.
The next few paragraphs are going to make those who can’t stand Kyle Busch even madder, but they need to be said.
First off, in the five XFINITY races Busch has entered, he’s won the pole three times, qualified third in the other two, and had only a cut tire on the final lap at Auto Club Speedway keep him from winning all of them.
In total, Busch has led 776 of a possible 913 laps in 2016. That’s 85 percent of the total, an insane figure to comprehend. He has reached 80 career wins in NASCAR’s No. 2 series in only 316 starts, not even one in every four.
The Martinsville truck race was Busch’s first entry of the season. He led 123 of the 255 laps and now has 45 wins in that series in 130 starts.
He may be behind the pace in the series that is NASCAR’s gold standard, but Busch has 36 victories and a Sprint Cup trophy to show for his efforts. He’ll make his 400th career Cup start at Talladega on May 1.
Put all the gaudy numbers aside for a moment and understand something here. It’s a driver’s job to get in the car or truck and drive it like a maniac with the intention of getting to Victory Lane. Nothing else matters, and as Ricky Bobby once said, second place is the first loser.
What may rub those who don’t care for Kyle Busch is how he handles himself when things don’t go his way. After the frustration of what happened at Auto Club, it’s understandable why he blew off the media interview, especially when there’s always potential for fines to come down for saying the wrong things in the heat of the moment.
But that’s what some racers do. Love or hate him, Kyle Busch knows how to put his race cars in the right places to win. It’s on everyone else to keep up and make the adjustments to go out and beat him.
Even with all the winning Busch has done of late, there is good news. After this weekend’s races at Bristol, he won’t run in another XFINITY race until Pocono on June 4. On the truck side, he’ll only run three other events – at Charlotte on May 20, Kentucky on July 7 and Bristol on Aug. 17.
In the meantime, it’s better to appreciate what Kyle Busch has done rather than hate and long for the “good old days,” whatever they mean. Soon enough, someone else is going to come along and wreak the same amount of havoc.
And those who hate whoever that is will be just as vocal. It’s the nature of the racing beast.
Follow Tom Zulewski on Twitter @Tomzsports. Send your email praise, beefs, disagreements, etc., to tominator19@yahoo.com
NEXT WEEK'S RACES
Bristol Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval), Bristol, Tenn.
-SPRINT CUP: Food City 500, Sunday, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, Fox. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.
Race distance: 500 laps, 266.5 miles
2015 champion: Matt Kenseth
-XFINITY SERIES: Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, Satuirday, 12:30 p.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT, Fox Sports 1. Radio: SiriusXM Channel 90 or your local PRN affiliate.
Race distance: 300 laps, 159.9 miles
2015 champion: Kyle Busch
-CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES: Off until May 6 for the Toyota Tundra 250 at Kansas Speedway.
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