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Kyle Busch Rule? He’s fine if that’s what you want to call it

NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250

RICHMOND, VA - SEPTEMBER 09: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 NOS Toyota, celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR XFINITY Series Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway on September 9, 2016 in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Sarah Crabill/Getty Images)

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Kyle Busch says “I guess I should be flattered” that people are referring to NASCAR’s rule limiting Sprint Cup drivers in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series as “The Kyle Busch Rule.’'

Busch made the comment Friday to USA Today and ESPN.com at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR announced Wednesday changes that will limit how many races some Cup drivers can drive in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series. The rule states:
-- Any Sprint Cup driver with more than five years full-time experience can compete in a maximum of 10 Xfinity and seven Camping World Truck Series races in 2017.

-- Any Sprint Cup driver with more than five years full-time experience will be prohibited from competing in the final eight Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series races next year. That’s the regular-season finale for both and the seven-race Chase for each series.

-- Any Sprint Cup driver with more than five years full-time experience will not be allowed to compete in the Xfinity Dash for Cash races next year.

-- Any Sprint Cup driver earning Cup points in 2017 will not be eligible to compete in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series title races in 2017 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch has won nine of 16 Xfinity races he’s competed this season. Sprint Cup drivers have won 19 of 30 Xfinity races this year. Since 2011, Sprint Cup drivers have won 138 of 196 Xfinity races (70.4 percent).

Busch said it’s the second time NASCAR has made a rule because of him. NASCAR increased the minimum age to 18 to compete in its national series in 2001 while Busch was 16 and competing in the Truck Series.

“This is Kyle Busch 2.0,” Busch told USA Today and ESPN.com.

Joey Logano, who has won two of 13 Xfinity starts this season, says the rule change will make an impact.

“As a race car driver, I want to race all the time, so if I put my race car driver hat on I think, ‘Man, this kind of stinks,’ because I want to drive,” Logano said Friday at Martinsville.“But I think when you kind of take that hat off and look at it from more of a global view I understand it. I get why we’re doing that.

“I think it’s important to have Cup racers out there because I think growing up as a young race car driver I learned that you only get better when you’re racing against people that are better than you, and I think this has the ability to give young drivers that and young crew chiefs coming up through the Xfinity Series.

“If you look at it from the business end, it’s no secret that a lot of sponsors want to have the big-name drivers in there. They want to have Sprint Cup racers that can go out there and are proven winners, so that’s definitely going to change the game quite a bit from the business side of our sport. For me, I’ve run 13 races this year, so it’s not going to change my schedule a whole bunch, but for guys like Kyle and what-not, it’s going to change quite a bit.”

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