Ten years ago, Kyle Busch made his debut in what is now the Nationwide Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Driving a Chevrolet for Joe Nemechek as a Hendrick Motorsports development driver, Busch started in the second position.
That day ended with Busch scoring a top-five finish as the Las Vegas native finished fifth.
Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway was far from Busch’s first start. In fact, it was his 253rd start in NASCAR’s “second level”.
But, just like that first start in 2003, Busch started the race from the outside of the front row, now driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Starting next to Busch was sophomore-phenom Austin Dillon, driving for grandfather Richard Childress, who got the jump on the opening lap to hold the lead.
Lap two saw the now elder-statesman Busch grab the lead, seemingly for good.
Busch led a whopping 186 of the race’s 200 laps on five different occasions.
While that may sound as though Busch faced multiple challenges throughout the day, three of the five different leaders assumed the top-spot through green-flag pit stops.
The only driver to pose a legitimate threat to Busch’s reign at the front of the field was Sam Hornish Jr.
Hornish snagged the lead from Busch on an early race restart, just before the caution flag flew.
The Las Vegas winner from earlier in the season led the race twice for a total of nine laps.
As the race wound down, it became more-and-more apparent that Busch would go on to claim yet another win in the Nationwide Series.
Despite a late-race challenge from Kasey Kahne, Busch was able to drive off to claim his series-leading sixth win of the Nationwide season as he took the checkered flag in Saturday’s HISTORY 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
History wasn’t just in the title of the race, it was also accomplished on the track.
By winning for a seventh time at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Nationwide Series, Busch broke a tie with Mark Martin for the most wins at the track.
“Mark–you know–is really, really good in the Nationwide Series,” Busch said about breaking a record with one of the most respected drivers in the sport.
“There’s a lot of things I’m beating him at, which is cool for me I know. This one means a lot to beat a guy like Mark Martin.”
Prior to Busch, Martin previously held the record for the most wins in Nationwide Series history; a record he broke from one of the members of the 2014 NASCAR Hall of Fame class, Jack Ingram.
“This is cool for us,” Busch said about breaking records previously held by future and current hall-0f-famers.
Next up for the Nationwide Series is 200-laps at Dover International Speedway where Regan Smith heads into the race with a 29-point lead over Hornish Jr. in the championship standings.
History 300 Unofficial Results
- Kyle Busch
- Kasey Kahne
- Joey Logano
- Kyle Larson
- Kevin Harvick
- Trevor Bayne
- Justin Allgaier
- Matt Kenseth
- Parker Kligerman
- Regan Smith
- Brian Vickers
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Elliott Sadler
- Austin Dillon
- Brian Scott
- Nelson Piquet Jr.
- Michael Annett
- Kevin Swindell
- Mike Bliss
- Alex Bowman
- Landon Cassill
- Jeremy Clements
- Hal Martin
- Mike Wallace
- Steve Wallace
- Kyle Fowler
- Dexter Stacey
- Juan Carlos Blum
- Kenny Wallace
- Eric McClure
- Dakoda Armstrong
- Joe Nemechek
- Travis Pastrana
- Jamie Dick
- John Wes Townley
- Johanna Long
- Reed Sorenson
- Chris Buescher
- Jason White
- Robert Richardson Jr.
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