Having won each of his past four NASCAR starts — two Sprint Cup victories and triumphs in the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series — Kyle Busch knows he’s on a roll.
As he prepares for this weekend’s Xfinity and Sprint Cup series races at Bristol Motor Speedway, the defending Cup champion has just one thing in mind: To keep that roll rolling.
Actually, make that two things in mind – as in wins in both races, thus extending his streak to six wins in six races — and potentially sweeping three straight race weekends in a row.
“I do feel like we’ve got a great chance this weekend of going for six in a row there,” Busch told NASCAR Talk in an exclusive interview.
The numbers certainly back up Busch’s contention. He and older brother Kurt are the winningest active drivers at Bristol, each having five Sprint Cup wins apiece on Bristol’s half-mile bullring.
Busch missed last spring’s Sprint Cup and Xfinity races at Bristol, recovering from the wreck two months earlier at Daytona that left him with a broken right leg and fractured left foot.
When he returned to BMS for the late summer Saturday night race, Busch started on the outside of the front row and finished eighth.
“We were really good there last fall, we had a really good car and were close, close enough that we probably had a good shot to win,” Busch said. “But we had a loose wheel, and I sped on pit road, so that kind of messed us up, and we didn’t finish as good as we wanted to.”
As good as his record is in Sprint Cup competition at Bristol, Busch has an even greater mark in Xfinity racing there. In 22 starts in NASCAR’s junior league at BMS, the younger Busch brother has eight wins, 15 top-fives and 18 top-10s.
That includes four wins and one runner-up in his last five Xfinity starts there and seven wins in his last 10 starts at BMS. He also has four wins in 10 Camping World Truck Series starts at Bristol, as well.
“I think we can,” Busch said of winning both the Xfinity and Cup races. “I think there’s a very good chance of that.”
One unique twist to this weekend’s race lineup is there will be two heat races prior to the Xfinity Series main event.
Busch is looking forward to the unique setting, as it reminds him of early in his career when he would take part in heat races on both dirt and pavement to set the field for the main event.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Busch said. “It’s going to be fine. I’m looking forward to that, for sure.
“Obviously, with the heat races and the way things are going to shape up with the Xfinity race, that may be a little bit different than typical Bristol races, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m looking forward to that.”
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