Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009

Auto racing roundup: NASCAR trifecta in reach for Kyle Bush at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Kyle Busch keeps extending streaks at Texas in search of a NASCAR first.

Busch won his fourth consecutive Nationwide Series race at the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked track Saturday. The dominating victory came a day after he won his fifth truck race in his last five starts in the series.

He will try to complete an unprecedented trifecta Sunday and become the first driver to win all three of NASCAR's national series on the same weekend.

"I hope it happens, that would be the greatest thing," Busch said. "The hardest one is the last one."

Busch qualified fifth for today's race at Texas, where he is 0-for-9 in Sprint Cup races and finished 18th in April.

When Busch climbed out of the car in Victory Lane on Saturday, he said he was "sorry" he won and would make it three in a row. When asked later about what reaction he expected if he did pull it off, he said he was "messing with the fans" with his comment and wasn't sure.

"People would get tired of buying tickets to the Kyle Busch show, I guess," he said. "That's two, one more to go. ... If luck is on our side and we play it smart, we could come out of here 3 for 3. That would be pretty special."

After taking the lead on the 11th of 200 laps, when he swung his No. 18 Toyota around polesitter Matt Kenseth in the first turn, Busch went on to lead 179 laps and win by 3.154 seconds over Casey Mears, who was filling in for Jeff Burton in the No. 29 Chevrolet.

This is the 28th time in his career Busch has run all three series the same weekend. This is the seventh time this year and twice he won two races - at California in February and Bristol in August - without being able to get the third. In California, he won the Camping World Truck Series and the Nationwide races before finishing third in Sprint Cup.

"Maybe we can come up two spots better here," he said.

It was Busch's eighth Nationwide victory this year, and extended his points lead to 272 over Carl Edwards with two races left.

On Friday, Busch won the fifth straight truck race he has participated in, extending a streak that began at Bristol in August on Friday night when he beat Matt Crafton by 0.725 seconds at the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked Texas track.

"That's cool, man. That's a pretty proud accomplishment," Busch said. "I've wanted to win a truck race here for a long time."

Busch has won seven times in 13 starts this season in the No. 51 Toyota, and been outside the top two only three times.

Series points leader Ron Hornaday was third, nearly 10 seconds behind Crafton, his closest competitor for the season title. Hornaday has a 197-point lead with two races left.