“Winning then, winning now, winning tomorrow,” as quoted by one of Kyle Busch’s many fans on social media. Over half a million NASCAR fans have pledged their allegiance to Busch online, designating him as their favorite driver. Those fans sing loud and clear on Facebook and Twitter every week, to his ability. Proving his fans right, Busch and the No. 54 Monster Energy team enter week 33 of the NASCAR Nationwide Series season at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Fort Worth, positioned for a strong 2013 finish. To support their fans’ excitement, Busch and team have secured 11 wins this year, recently capped with a fall race win at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. This Saturday the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) stable will again tackle the 1.5-mile Texas venue, where earlier this year crew chief Adam Stevens and his 28-year-young veteran driver, narrowly missed the pole-starting position with a second-place qualifying effort, then went on to earn victory with the Toyota team. An accomplishment that carried over for Busch to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event the next day, allowing Busch to “sweep” the Lonestar-State races in April.
This weekend Busch will again attempt victory and a possible weekend “sweep,” racing in all three of NASCAR’s top divisions, including the NASCAR Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series. Needless to say, Busch is extremely comfortable maneuvering the Texas track and has proven his skills to be dominant. Busch’s performance in Texas has yielded him the No. 1 spot in most statistical categories at this facility. Loop Data Statistics over the past eight years at TMS, record Busch first in: Driver Rating (126.6), Average Running Position (1), # of Fastest Laps Run (624, 26.1%), Average Mid-Race Position (6.5), Final Average Position (6.8), # of Laps in the Top 15 (2450, 87.2%), # of Laps Led (1343, 42.5%), Fastest Driver Early in a Run (177.321 mph), Fastest Driver Late in a Run (171.955 mph), Fastest on Restarts (168.756 mph), Fastest Green Flag Speed (173.765 mph) and Highest Average Speed per Race Quarter (Q3 & Q4).
In the Nationwide Series at TMS, Busch holds the record for most poles (3), most laps led (1343), most wins (6) and most top-five finishes (12). He and the 11-time winning No. 54 JGR unit are the defending race winners at Texas and Busch currently sits as the Nationwide Series driver with the most amount of laps led all season (1,811, 33.46%). Have Busch’s fans predicted correctly? A “win tomorrow” is to be determined in the Lonestar-State and Busch likes his odds.
KBM PR
