Kyle Busch: One Away From Record

Kyle Busch: One Away From Record

To be the best you have to beat the best, and this weekend at Dover International Speedway, 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series champion Kyle Busch, has the opportunity to tie Mark Martin’s series all-time wins record at 49.
Busch has amassed a stellar career, posting 48 wins, 109 top fives and 138 top 10s in 211 starts. This season alone he has posted five wins, six top fives and seven top 10s in nine series starts, including two perfect Driver Ratings (150.0) at Phoenix and Bristol.
“Being within one of Mark’s (Martin) win record is special,” Busch said. “We’ve said it the last few times since I’ve probably been within five of being able to eclipse him. We’ll see when it happens – if it happens. Maybe some say it’s inevitable, but to us we just keep working our guts out and making sure we bring good race cars to the race track and I’m racing Dover and I’m racing Charlotte. Those are two really good places for me in the NASCAR Nationwide Series – I’ve run really well at both of those,” Busch said.
Busch is tied for the most series wins at Dover (three) after sweeping the races there last season, and in doing so, posted two of his 14 series career perfect Driver Ratings. It was the second time in his series career he has swept the two yearly events at a speedway and produced perfect Driver Ratings while doing so – the other was Texas 2009.
Mark Martin was the guest on this week’s NASCAR national teleconference, and talked about the record. Busch has had at least one win each season since 2004 with a high (and series record) of 13 in 2010. The most wins in a single season Mark Martin posted was seven in 1993 when he ran 14 races for Jack Roush. In a four-race limited schedule with Turner Motorsports this year, Martin has two races left, at Michigan and Kentucky, to extend his all-time wins record. Click here for audio of Busch talking about breaking Mark Martin’s record.

Back On Top: Allgaier And Sadler Shrug Off Bumpy Start
With just 10 races in the books, the NASCAR Nationwide Series has had five different standings leaders and 16 different drivers making their way into the top 10 in points this season. Currently, the top five drivers are separated by 24 points with Turner Motorsport’s Justin Allgaier at the top.
Only five points behind Allgaier is Kevin Harvick Inc.’s Elliott Sadler in second.
Both Allgaier and Sadler had similar starts to the season. Allgaier finished 27th at Daytona and Sadler finished 38th.
How quickly things have changed. Now the two are setting the standard in the championship battle. Allgaier has posted three top fives and six top 10s this season. He has a season-to-date Driver Rating of 93.1 and an Average Running Position of 11.593. Sadler is tied with Kyle Busch in top fives this season, with six. Sadler’s season-to-date Driver Rating is 96.1 and his Average Running Position is 11.102.
Allgaier has made four starts at Dover, posting two top-10 finishes including a ninth-place finish in last fall’s event. Sadler has made six series starts at Dover posting two top 10s.

Kenny Wallace’s Countdown To The 500 Club
Last May at Dover, Jason Keller reached a milestone that no other NASCAR Nationwide Series driver had attained – his 500th career start. Keller, who currently isn’t racing in the series, has 519 career starts to date. This weekend at Dover, Kenny Wallace will inch ever closer to the 500 club by making his 499th series race. He’s set to reach 500 on May 22 at Iowa Speedway.
In addition to closing in on the milestone start, Kenny Wallace is having one of the best seasons of his 22-year series career. He’s been ranked in top 10 in points for the last nine weeks and also has two top-10 finishes.

NNS Etc. –
Joey Logano and Ryan Truex return to the track where they each hoisted their first NASCAR championships. Logano, from Middletown, Conn., wrapped up the 2007 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East title with a second-place finish at the Monster Mile. Truex, from nearby Mayetta, N.J., capped of both ends of his consecutive championships at his home track with an eighth-place run in 2009 and a third-place in 2010. … Donnie Neuenberger also is entered at Dover. He’ll be seeking his fourth start of the year, the most for the Brandywine, Md. native since 2007.