‘In The Loop’ At Pocono Raceway

Frequent Flyer: Busch Attempts Unprecedented Triple Duty


DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 4, 2008) – Kyle Busch looks to make NASCAR history this weekend.

Busch, the points leader in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, will attempt a NASCAR first – racing in three national series, at three different tracks, in the same weekend.

His busy itinerary will take him to Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, Nashville Superspeedway for the NASCAR Nationwide Series race and Pocono Raceway for the NASCAR Sprint Cup event.

The next question – can he be the first to sweep all three races in the same weekend?

If Busch did win all three, he’d be the first to do so – period. It’s never been done at the same track on a companion weekend, let alone three different tracks.

The driver to come the closest – Kyle Busch, himself. Last season, during the November Phoenix weekend, Busch won both the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race and the NASCAR Nationwide race, and finished eighth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

There’s certainly a chance. Across the three series, Busch has run 33 races. He has been in first place at some point in the race during 28 of them (though he’s led a lap in 26 of them)

Busch ranks in the top 10 in all key statistical categories in each series:

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Category Stat (Rank)
Avg. Running Pos. 7.8 (1st)
Driver Rating 115.2 (1st)
Fastest Laps Run 351 (2nd)
Laps in the Top 15% 81.9% (1st)
Quality Passes 632 (5th)

NASCAR Nationwide Series
Category Stat (Rank)
Avg. Running Pos. 10.9 (4th)
Driver Rating 110.9 (1st)
Fastest Laps Run 398 (1st)
Laps in the Top 15% 68.4% (7th)
Quality Passes 349 (T 6th)

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Category Stat (Rank)
Avg. Running Pos. 6.8 (1st)
Driver Rating 124.9 (1st)
Fastest Laps Run 213 (1st)
Laps in the Top 15% 85.2% (1st)
Quality Passes 172 (6th)

Across the three series, Busch has a Driver Rating of 117.0. Combining the second-place ratings for each series – which belong to Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and Ron Hornaday Jr. – the Driver Rating would be 107.2, almost 10 points lower than Busch alone.

One problem, Busch has not enjoyed the best of success at the tracks he’ll race this weekend – he does not have a series win at any of them. Below are his race logs at each track since 2005:

Busch at Pocono in the NSCS (2005-2007)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR
6/05 4 13.6 3 59.7% 96.8
7/05 39 18 0 57.6% 71.5
6/06 22 12.3 3 83.0% 85.8
7/06 12 22.8 1 34.0% 83.6
6/07 8 6.8 1 96.2% 106.8
8/07 12 21.4 8 20.0% 77.2
Total 16.2 15.8 16 55.2% 87.0
ARP: Average Running Position
FLR: Fastest Laps Run
LT15%: Percentage of Laps in the Top 15
DR: Driver Rating

Busch at Nashville in the NNS (2006-2007)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR
4/06 30 13.6 2 64% 80.1
6/06 31 29.5 1 0.4% 53.2
3/08 16 6.3 68 73.3% 128.6
Total 25.7 16.5 71 45.9% 87.3

Busch at Texas in the NCTS (2005-2007)
Date Finish ARP FLR LT15% DR
11/05 3 3.2 13 98.6% 122.6
11/06 2 6.5 5 99.3% 113
11/07 29 16.5 18 46.3% 108.7
Total 11.3 8.7 36 81.3% 114.8

Loop Data Defined: NASCAR statistics generated from electronic scoring loops embedded around each track hosting races in NASCAR’s three national series – the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.