By now they are tired of talking about it. But if you’re a Busch brother and it’s NASCAR race week in Las Vegas, you know the question about racing at home — and not having a huge number of victories to show for it — is always just around the corner.
“Yeah, certainly, you always want to do well,” said two-time Cup Series series champion Kyle Busch about the pressure of performing in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 and fall’s South Point 400 playoff race, and his and older brother Kurt’s combined 2-for-45 overall win ratio at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“I’ve won that race before, and (experienced) just the huge sense of relief that kind of comes off your shoulders when you’re able to do that and win at your home track. Kurt (Busch) was just able to finally get it done a few years ago, so that was really awesome to see.
“I remember mine, I think it was 2009. It’s been a long time.”
That it has, but if the younger of the two former series champions can stay out of trouble early, this could be the year he notches a second victory at home.
Busch was running among the leaders at the Daytona 500 before being collected in an crash but still battled back to finish sixth. Last week, he dropped six laps off the pace with a flat tire and other issues before salvaging a ninth-place, lead-lap finish.
Despite the gap since his only LVMS win, Busch said he and Kurt still look forward to racing in Las Vegas.
“It’s cool to be able to come back home and to have the notoriety, I guess, that we have now,” said Kyle Busch, who has more top five finishes at LVMS (9) than any other active driver.
“One of these days, hopefully, there might be a road out there named after us, or a grandstand or something of that nature. (But maybe) don’t get too far ahead of yourselves, because that just means I’m getting closer to retirement if they start doing that.”
At 43, Kurt Busch is Kyle’s senior by seven years but is enjoying a renaissance of sorts after having joined Bubba Wallace on the 23XI Racing team co-owned by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin and basketball legend Michael Jordan.
Kurt also found himself in rally mode during last week’s race at Auto Club Speedway in California. His No. 45 Toyota failed prequalifying inspection four times, started from the rear and was also assessed a drive-through penalty. But the veteran who broke through for his first LVMS victory in the 2020 fall race, persevered for an eighth-place finish after settling for 19th in the wreck-filled Daytona 500.
“I’ve got to thank the crew for staying focused all race long,” he said after recording his first top 10 for his new team. “They showed me the way, and I showed them on what we’ve got to do this year to keep chiseling away.”
Kyle Busch also will drive in Friday’s Truck Series race at LVMS in which Las Vegan Matt Jaskol also is entered. Noah Gragson, second in points after two races, and fourth-place Riley Herbst will form the local contingent in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 300 Xfinity Series race.
Contact Ron Kantowski at [email protected] or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
