Kyle Busch will be going green this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon when he returns for the fourth of six races with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) founding sponsor Interstate Batteries’ familiar green-and-white striped Toyota Camry.
Busch, driver of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota for JGR. heads into Sunday’s Foxwoods Casino Resort 301 looking to continue his torrid pace this Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season by adding yet another notch to the win column at one of his most successful tracks. Interstate Batteries’ colors are already in the win column in 2019 via Busch’s March victory at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, which also happened to mark his 200th career victory in NASCAR top three touring series. Busch has four Cup Series wins so far this season, a number matched only among Cup Series competitors by JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr.
The New Hampshire track affectionately dubbed the “Magic Mile” has certainly lived up to its billing for Busch. In 2015, he and his team used hard work and a little bit of luck to bring home what would be his second of three Cup Series wins in a row during a summer hot streak that would ultimately springboard him to that year’s Cup Series championship.
The 2015 New Hampshire victory was Busch’s second Cup Series win on the 1.058-mile oval, the first coming in just his third start there in July 2006, and in dominating fashion as he led 107 laps. After that 2006 win, the Las Vegas native left with plenty of confidence that he could get multiple New Hampshire wins as his career progressed. As it turned out, he was winless there over the next 17 races, which included a number of near-misses.
Still, the driver of the Interstate Batteries Toyota posted five top-five finishes in those 17 starts between New Hampshire wins, including three runner-up finishes in a row in 2013 and 2014 before breaking through for the aforementioned 2015 win, and then adding his first playoff victory at the track in September 2017 after leading 187 of the 300 laps in an impressive performance. In all, Busch has 11 top-five finishes and 15 top-10s in 27 starts at New Hampshire.
This part of the season happens to be the hottest for Cup Series competitors with many race venues seeing higher July temperatures, which is also the case for race fans heading out on their vacation road trips. The summer months can be taxing on both man and machine, whether it’s on the highway or at the track. Caring for the latter is one of the ways JGR founding partner Interstate Batteries leverages its NASCAR program, reminding consumers to have their batteries checked during the hot summer months at a local dealer prior to their summer road trips.
So, as NASCAR’s top series heads to the Northeast for Sunday’s 301-mile race, Busch will look to rekindle the magic he last enjoyed during this time of year in 2015. There will be plenty of Interstate Batteries distributors and dealers across New England cheering him on as he looks to add yet another New Hampshire win to his resume.
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