After scoring 21 NASCAR Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series victories in 2008, a lot of people were wondering what Kyle Busch was going to do for an encore this season. From 
where we’re sitting, it looks pretty much like he’s back for a second act this year.
Busch already has three victories – one in each series – to open the 2009 season. His latest quest, a 427-mile Cup win at Las Vegas Sunday, was officially won from the pole position after setting the fastest speed (189.995 miles per hour) in qualifying. Hours earlier, Busch had grenaded an engine in his Toyota and subsequent engine swap put him at the back of the starting field Sunday regardless of where he had qualified. Seems it didn’t matter as Busch rocketed to the front of the field in just 54 laps and scored his 13th career Cup win in 153 starts.
It gets even better.
Busch’s 24 wins over the past two seasons have come in just 92 starts in the three divisions. In case you’re not a math major, that a win in 26 percent of his NASCAR starts over the past 13 months.
Want more?
Busch has an amazing 51 Top-5 finishes in those 92 races (55 percent) and 63 Top-10 efforts (68 percent). No wonder the guy is confident. These are numbers from the stratosphere, and we don’t mean the hotel in Vegas.
It's been more than 40 years since a driver had this kind of hot streak. Back in 1967, Richard Petty won 27 then Grand National (now Cup) races in 48 starts (56 percent) and had a whopping 40 Top-10 finishes (83 percent).
Both driver's marks are pretty amazing.
Talk all you want about who is the best driver in NASCAR right now, but when you settle in to make your final selection, you may want to think about penning ‘the Shrub’ in on the ballot. If you’re basing your choice on stats, no one else comes close.
Humble Pie
Anyone who has ever worked in racing knows how the sport can humble you in a heartbeat.
This week, Matt Kenseth rolled into Las Vegas looking to set a NASCAR record of winning three-straight events to open a season. Instead, Kenseth was the first driver out of the race, suffering an engine failure on just the sixth lap. It was only the second time in 331 career NASCAR Cup Series races that Kenseth finished last.
Remember When?
Bobby Labonte finished fifth in Sunday’s Cup race at Vegas. It was the first Top-5 finish for Labonte in 79 races dating back to a third-place finish at Martinsville in October 2006.
Meanwhile, David Reutimann notched his first career Top-5 Cup effort in 66 division starts Sunday at Las Vegas.
Safer Times
Last year, Jeff Gordon had a scary wreck when he pounded a part of the Vegas back straight wall that was not protected by a ‘Safer Barrier.’ This year, the track was all but ringed with the energy absorbing crash barrier.
Nice job.
Wreckin’
Sunday’s Vegas Cup race had 14 caution flags for 66 laps. On Saturday, the Nationwide division had 12 periods of yellow fever lasting 60 laps. Guess they need those Safer Barriers.
Top Of The Pops
Gordon, who finished sixth Sunday, is now the Cup points leader with 459 markers, 18 better than Sunday’s race runner-up Clint Bowyer. Gordon is averaging a seventh-place finish in three races so far this season.
FYI- Jimmie Johnson won last year’s crown with a 10.8 average finish.
Nationwide Cup Series Results
There were nine Cup drivers in the Nationwide race Saturday and, of course, one of them (Greg Biffle) won the race. Cup drivers swept the first three positions Saturday and five of the Top-10 slots. Currently, six of the Top-10 in the 2009 Nationwide seasons point’s championship battle are Cup drivers.
Cup drivers have now won all three Nationwide events so far this season and have captured 97 of the last 108 Nationwide/Busch Series races contested back to the start of the 2006 season.
What a joke.
Snowbound
You’d hardly ever think of getting stranded in Las Vegas because of snow, but that’s exactly what happened to most of the Cup teams in Sin City Sunday.
A massive southern snow storm hit Charlotte, NC late Sunday evening dumping as much as a foot of the white stuff in portions of the area. Since most of the Cup teams call Charlotte home, they were stuck an extra evening in Vegas Sunday as while the storm played out back on Carolina.
If you are ever going to get delayed or stranded anywhere, there are worse places we can think of than Vegas.
