|
 Busch left behind criticism that helped earn him a $10,000 fine
for saying that NASCAR fixes races after an Xfinity Series event
before the Easter break.
In Martinsville, Busch actually scored three firsts. He earned his
first career victory at the famed Virginia short track when he won
the Camping World Truck Series race on Saturday. His dominant
performance in Sunday's race gave him his first Sprint Cup victory
on the 0.526-mile track. And it was a first victory of the season
for Busch, which puts him into position to defend his Sprint Cup
championship in this year's Chase.
Afterward, Busch defended his penchant for running races in NASCAR's
junior series.
"I'd say it certainly helps when you get to run other divisions and
that's why I do it, to pay off on Sundays," said Busch, referring to
the Truck Series race on Saturday. "It doesn't work every single
weekend, but it works more times than it doesn't, so can't say
enough about everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) for giving me
a great piece (Saturday) to help me learn, teach me some more things
about Martinsville that I didn't already know in 30 other prior
starts."
But perhaps the most important element for Busch has been the
assistance of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin, an
acknowledged master at Martinsville who says he's an open book when
talking to his teammates.
On Friday, Hamlin actually predicted a Truck Series win for Busch
and suggested he would be a strong contender on Sunday to win one of
the grandfather clocks that Martinsville winners receive. It was
only a matter of time.
"I'd say he (Busch) has a pretty good chance on Saturday," Hamlin
said Friday. "But he's been in position at times on Sundays, but for
whatever reason it just hasn't happened. There's many tracks like
that for me. He's won a few more races than I have in my career, but
there are tracks where I've run extremely strong and just haven't
won at. I'm an open book really to anyone that wants to chat and as
long as I'm not racing against them if they're not my teammate that
is. He's good and he's a great short track racer. He runs Late
Models all over the place and wins a lot of races. He'll have his
clock sooner or later."
In the end, Busch took home two. On Sunday, he led 352 laps in his
22nd start at Martinsville. Not since the late Bobby Hamilton led
378 laps in 1998 -- six years before Busch began his Sprint Cup
career -- has a driver been so dominant on the track where tight
corners and traffic usually produce a lot of passing opportunities.
It was Busch's 35th career Sprint Cup victory.
Conditions helped Busch, because cool weather and a strong breeze
helped prevent much rubber from being put down in the groove.
Despite the day's sunshine, the track did not change and get
slippery, meaning crew chiefs didn't have to chase the track by
changing set-ups. That combined with Busch taking his lessons from
Hamlin made for a dominant day. Ironically, Hamlin hit the wall
after over-cooking his braking and did not finish.
Just as he is impetuous with his criticism of NASCAR, Busch is
pedal-to-the-metal behind the wheel. That's why it took him so long
to win in the tight confines of Martinsville.
"You know, I always probably try to overdrive this place a lot,"
Busch said. "I feel like over the last few years, I definitely honed
in on some things that helped me and some techniques that helped me,
and obviously having great teammates like Denny Hamlin over the
years, I've gotten a lot better. When I joined Joe Gibbs Racing, I
was still hit or miss. I wasn't very good. But then once I was
really able to lean on Denny a lot and learn from Denny a lot, that
helped me."
[to top of second column] |
Busch is not interested in slowing down his extracurricular racing,
despite the criticism about Sprint Cup teams combining with veteran
drivers to win so often in the Xfinity Series. Racing as often as
possible, which includes Super Late Model events, is just what Busch
does and apparently he doesn't care if it irritates others who see
him as beating up on up-and-coming drivers with less experience. His
remark about NASCAR fixing races likely had its origins in criticism
that his winning ways hurt the "stepping stone" series like Xfinity.
When NASCAR decided not to throw a yellow flag that would have
handed him victory in Fontana, Busch took exception. Martinsville
was a different story.
Busch has now won 45 races in the Truck series in addition to 79
Xfinity Series wins, all by the age of 30. His goal, he said, is to
win on not just every Sprint Cup track but every track where he has
entered a race in each of NASCAR's three major touring series.
"I've concluded being able to win at all the active tracks that I've
made a start in the Truck Series," said Busch, who will turn 31 on
May 2. "I believe that's right. And then I've got Watkins Glen left
on the Xfinity side, and I've got I think three, Kansas, Pocono and
somewhere -- Charlotte (in the Sprint Cup).
"So it's a pretty good problem to have. There's not very many left
on the list, but we've certainly put some emphasis on that over the
past few years and being able to try to do that last year was a big
year for us, knocking off a couple of those, as well. I'm pumped
when I'm able to do that. I don't know that many guys have ever been
able to accomplish being able to win at every single active track
that they've made starts at, and I look forward to trying to
complete that feat."
To be specific, six-time champion Jimmie Johnson and three-time
champ Tony Stewart are among the active drivers who have not won on
every Sprint Cup track. Retired four-time champion Jeff Gordon hung
up his helmet without a victory at Kentucky, which was added to the
schedule in 2011.
The tough part about Martinsville is modulating the throttle, said
Busch, who likes a hammer-down style.
"The biggest thing about Martinsville is the amount of off throttle
time that you have here is greater than the amount of time on
throttle that you have here," he said. "So being able to put
together lift techniques and braking techniques and how to utilize
the speed of the car without trying to go fast. You're trying to go
fast, but you're trying to do it while slowing down. That's probably
one of the biggest things. I've never been very good at slowing
down."
A look at Busch's busy schedule also confirms he's not very good at
taking things slowly.
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