Kyle Busch’s come-from-behind win in Wednesday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway sets the stage for another sweep of the weekend’s major NASCAR races, a feat he accomplished in August 2010.
“It’s so dependent on a lot of different circumstances, but I don’t see why not,” he said in his winner’s interview Wednesday night. “If I can get my cars to do what I need them to do in my Nationwide car and my Cup car, then it should be a lot better.
“We tried to find that (Wednesday night), and we just never really could. … I know what I’m looking for. Sometimes I find it, and sometimes I don’t. It’s all about me trying to communicate with the crew chief to get it done. To win three, you first must win one.”
Busch, who has five Cup and five Nationwide wins at Bristol, heads into Saturday’s Irwin Tools Night Race in position to race for wins rather than worry about losing a Chase berth.
He ranks fifth in the points standings with three wins, which all but assures that he’ll make the cut for the championship-deciding Chase for the Sprint Cup.
“I think that we certainly have a little bit of leeway there that we can play with,” Busch said. “I think the biggest thing you’re going to play with is just some gambles on the race track and what you can do and see if you can’t get some wins through some creative pit strategy or something.”
Another Bristol standout, defending Cup champion Brad Keselowski, doesn’t enjoy the same luxury as Busch. He’s winless for the year, eighth in the standings and only eight points ahead of 11th-place Kasey Kahne with three races, including Bristol, left in the 26-race regular season.
But he appears to be gaining momentum. He was in position to win at Michigan on Sunday before a late-race stop for fuel opened the door for a victory by his Penske Racing teammate Joey Logano. And Keselowski has won two of the past three Cup races at Bristol.
“Bristol is absolutely coming at a good time,” Keselowski said in his team’s release. “I like to think of Bristol as one of my better race tracks, probably in the top three.
“I took to it from the first time I drove out on the surface. It’s a man’s race track, and I like that about it.”
Keselowski said that even though he heads into this weekend inside the top 10, which would be good enough to make the Chase if he remains there for the next three weeks, he’d like to get a win before then.
“I would rather have a win or two and be a wild card than finish seventh or eighth and squeak my way into the Chase without any wins,” he said. “The momentum of a win and the confidence it instills in you, and the fear that it puts in your competition is more than worth it.”
Young Elliott wins truck pole: Dawsonville's Chase Elliott won the truck series pole Wednesday at Bristol with a lap at 125.183 mph and in doing so became the circuit's youngest pole winner at 17 years, eight months and 24 days old. He breaks the record set earlier this year by Darrell Wallace Jr.
Elliott’s pole came in his sixth career truck series start. He led the first 62 laps and finished fifth, his fifth consecutive top-five finish. He finished sixth in his debut at Martinsville Speedway.
Sprint cars in Woodstock: After a rash of weather-related delays, the Fayetteville-based United Sprint Car Series is set to race Saturday night at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock. The Dixie Sprint Car Nationals were postponed by weather issues July 13 and Aug. 10.
The Senoia Summer Nationals at Senoia Raceway were rained out last weekend and have been rescheduled for Sept. 20-21.
The series also will be a part of the NASCAR weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, running a 50-lap feature on the quarter-mile Legends track Aug. 30 after Sprint Cup drivers qualify for the Sept. 1 Advocare 500. The sprint-car race will be sponsored by Tim Smith’s Climax Moonshine.
Southern Supers: Senoia's Bubba Pollard heads into this weekend's 48th annual Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway as the points leader of the Southern Super Series. Pollard finished second in the new circuit's most recent race, at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson on Aug. 10, and leads Daniel Hemric by 15 points with four races left to run.
Mason Massey of Douglasville is the defending winner of the Alabama 200.
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