It’s almost time for Halloween and, for Kyle Busch, there are memories of a time when not many things were spookier than having to make one of his semiannual visits to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
That’s because, during a three-race stretch starting in the spring of 2008, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver who will sport a special M&M’s Halloween Fun Packs paint scheme for Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500 never finished better than 24th at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval.
Busch’s fortunes at Martinsville began to turn around with a solid fourth-place finish in the fall of 2009, and then came new crew chief Dave Rogers. In March 2010, during his first full season under Rogers’ guidance, Busch was running second at Martinsville when a late-race caution forced a decision by the No. 18 team to pit late in the race, costing precious track position. On the ensuing restart, the Las Vegas native made contact with Paul Menard and was ultimately forced to settle for a 22nd-place finish. Although it was a hugely disappointing end to the weekend, Busch and Rogers left with the feeling they were capable of winning at Martinsville. They backed it up with a solid fourth-place run that October.
In his next trip to the tricky Virginia short track in April of 2011, Busch led a race-high 151 laps before scoring his career-best Martinsville finish of third. Indeed, Busch felt like the M&M’s team kept getting closer to that elusive win at Martinsville with each return. And it looked like last October would finally be the breakthrough run as Busch led a race-high 126 laps, but a late-race multi-car accident relegated him to a 27th-place finish. An early race accident this past April derailed another Martinsville bid for Busch as he placed 36th.
Of the 23 venues that will host Sprint Cup events in 2012, Busch has won at least once at 20 of those venues in one of NASCAR’s top three divisions – Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck. Martinsville is one of only three current Sprint Cup tracks – Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway being the others – where Busch has not scored a victory in any of NASCAR’s top three series. He does have back-to-back runner-up finishes at Martinsville in his last two Truck Series outings in October 2010 and April 2011.
As the Sprint Cup Series returns to Martinsville for another Halloween weekend celebration, will it mean a trick, or a treat, for Busch this Sunday? Despite the lack of a grandfather clock – the famed first-place prize at Martinsville – in his trophy case, Busch has reason to believe it might finally be time for those pesky tricks to turn to treats.
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