Kyle Busch creeps near Nationwide win record
BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kyle Busch continued his march through NASCAR's record books with yet another victory at Bristol Motor Speedway.
His dominating win Saturday was the 46th of his career in the second-tier Nationwide Series, which puts him three back from tying Mark Martin's record. In leading 266 of the 300 laps, Busch became the first driver in series history to lead more than 10,000 laps.
He has led 10,035 laps in the Nationwide Series.
And at Bristol? Busch's win Saturday was his 10th spanning NASCAR's three national series, and he's led a whopping 2,349 laps on the Tennessee bullring.
Busch has won the last four races at Bristol, dating to August when he had a three-race weekend sweep. He's got four career Bristol wins in the elite Sprint Cup series, three in Nationwide and three in the Truck series.
The Nationwide win moved him closer in his pursuit of Martin's record. Martin grabbed a win two weeks ago in Las Vegas but conceded that Busch would break the mark by this summer. Busch said Martin probably texted him immediately after the race in what's become good-natured ribbing between the two.
"Mark and I have a little fun egging it on," he said. "He told me after Las Vegas, time is on my side, not his side."
Kasey Kahne finished second and was followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., Elliott Sadler and Joey Logano.
As Busch pulled away from the field, the real drama was back in traffic and even in the garage.
Danica Patrick tangled with Ryan Truex on the track and waited for him to pass by after the accident, arms in the air as if to say, 'Why did you wreck me?'
Truex wasn't sure what he'd done wrong and received affirmation from an unidentified team member over his in-car radio.
"She's never been wrong about anything a day in her life," Truex was told. "I wouldn't worry about it."
Patrick, coming off a career-best finish of fourth at Las Vegas, was running in the top 20 at the time of the accident. She finished 33rd in her final race before she resumes her IndyCar schedule.
Patrick is not scheduled to run another Nationwide event until June at Chicago.
"He just runs hard, he's run hard every time I've been around him, and it just feels like overkill," she said of the incident with Truex.
