Kyle Busch joins ‘elite’ NASCAR list featuring Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt after impressive Kansas race
Kyle Busch was the favorite for the race win in Kansas and led the race for a fair chunk, which earned him a spot with the greats.
Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Busch (In Circle) and Richard Petty (Via IMAGO)
Kyle Busch has the most amount of wins by any driver in the contemporary era of racing. His 63 wins and two Cup Series championships have aided him in amassing more than 20,000 laps that he has spent while leading a race. Subsequently, to add another record to his tally of feats, he recently got into an elite list featuring seven-time champions like Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt after his impressive outing in Kansas enabled him to lead more than 200 laps this season.
The race in Kansas was a four-chariot race. Martin Truex Jr. and William Byron led a few dozen laps, but the eyes of the fans were set on Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch. The 39-year-old was the defacto race leader after all the pitstops and was on course to get his first win of the season as he led 32 laps. However, he lost the No.8 Chevy in the dirty air of a backmarker, causing him to spin out and gift the lead to Chastain.
Despite the result leaving a sour taste in his mouth, his 32 lead laps counted towards a statistic that a mere four other drivers had ever achieved. The RCR racer had led a minimum of 200 laps in 20 consecutive seasons, a feat that legends like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and others had achieved. This stat proved that the 39-year-old has been a consistent driver over the years and despite his winless spell, he is still up to the mark in terms of performance.
Kyle Busch has now led 200 laps in the last 20 CONSECUTIVE seasons
— Trey Ryan (@TreyRyan99) September 29, 2024
He is only the 5th driver in NASCAR HISTORY to accomplish this
Richard Petty – 25 seasons
Jeff Gordon – 23
Dale Earnhardt – 22
Rusty Wallace – 20
Kyle Busch – 20 pic.twitter.com/qw5vQopIpB
Kyle Busch glanced over how in the old days lapped traffic would be more friendly
On the other hand, his late spin resulted in the No.8 driver finishing P19 on the road. This infuriated fans all over social media on the silly way the two-time Cup Series champion had lost the lead and alleged Chase Briscoe for intentionally wrecking out the RCR driver.
Busch remained away from slopping allegations but glanced over the sportsmanship that drivers back in the day possessed. He claimed that in the old days, in the last few ten laps, backmarkers allowed the leaders to race uninterruptedly and provided them with a whole lane to pass through.
Granted they have a race to run, but back in the old days when you were under 30 to go or whatever it was, lap traffic would kind of lay over and give you a lane and let the leaders race. I just wasn’t getting that, so I tried to force my hand into getting that and get to his outside, and for whatever reason, it just gave all the air in all the wrong places and I spun out.
Kyle Busch said in a post-race interview as quoted by Motorsport.
However, this practice soon faded from existence and played a key role in the 39-year-old’s race being ruined in the last stage. Thus, the sportsmanship within NASCAR might take a hit after the Busch-Briscoe incident in Kansas.
Geetansh Pasricha
(586 Articles Published)