On Thursday’s edition of NASCAR America/The Motorsports Hour, analysts A.J. Allmendinger and Parker Kligerman were adamant in agreement that Kyle Busch will reach the 200-win milestone this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Busch has 199 combined wins across all three of NASCAR’s major series: 52 wins in Cup, 53 in Trucks and 94 in Xfinity. At Fontana, he’s entered in both the Xfinity and Cup races, meaning he not only has a chance to hit 200 wins (if he wins the Xfinity race) but also to exceed it (if he also wins the Cup race).
Remember, Busch is coming off back-to-back wins this past weekend at Phoenix. He’d love to make NASCAR history with another back-to-back accomplishment.
Here’s why our analysts think Busch will emulate comedian Larry The Cable Guy and Git-R-Done for No. 200 (and potentially more) this weekend:
ALLMENDINGER: “I believe so. He’s got that feel right now, where no matter what vehicle he gets in, whether it’s a Truck, Xfinity or Cup car, he goes out there and runs up front. I feel for him, there’s so much talk about it, he just wants to get it over with. He wants it to happen so he’s able to go out there and not have to talk about it again. It’s going to be a big deal. We should celebrate it.
“I know there’s a lot of topics about the whole Richard Petty vs. Kyle Busch thing. Forget about it. When it happens, let’s just celebrate it. I think in one of those races, it happens this weekend and he gets No. 200.”
KLIGERMAN: “Kyle Busch doesn’t focus on that. He doesn’t amass this amount of wins focusing on whether he gets the most wins of this driver or he gets this win at this time. He just goes out there racing to win every time. Does this mean something? Yes. Is it significant? Yes. Does it compare to Richard Petty? I’m going to say no. I’ve said that for a while, every time this has been brought up over the last couple years, that it does not compare. Basically, those were Cup wins (for Petty), the best at that time, while (Busch) has done it over three different series.
“What is amazing to me is his win percentage, that’s what I find really interesting, how high of a win percentage he has. Do I think it can happen this weekend? Absolutely. One, Fontana is a great track for him. In any series he steps in right now, he’s on top of his game. And the Joe Gibbs Racing cars are all really fast right now. I think all those things combined, yes, it can happen this weekend and he’s on top form, so why not?”
Do you agree with Allmendinger and Kligerman? Check out the video above.
They also talk about Martin Truex Jr., who has been knocking on victory’s door with two runner-up finishes in the last three races, may finally reach victory lane for the first time in 2019 if Busch doesn’t win the Cup race.