Busch Chases NASCAR History In Kentucky

Kyle Busch stands a victory away from making NASCAR history as the first driver to win a race in all three of the NASCAR's national series in successive starts.

Busch, a two-time NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series winner in 2008, hopes to add Saturday's Built Ford Tough 225 at Kentucky Speedway to last weekend's NASCAR Sprint Cup/Nationwide Series sweep at Chicagoland Speedway.

Busch already is a member of a select group of drivers who have won in all three national series in the same season, posting a victory each year from 2005-08. Terry Labonte (1995) and Kevin Harvick (2003) also pulled off that triple.

The opportunity is just the latest milestone in what any NASCAR driver would consider a milestone season: The Sprint Cup Series championship lead on the strength of seven victories; five Nationwide Series wins and top-five point ranking; and truck wins back-to-back at Auto Club Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.

While Busch has never competed in a truck race at Kentucky, the 23-year-old competitor was the track's Nationwide Series winner in 2004. An accident while running second sidelined him from last month's Meijer 300 at the Sparta, Ky. facility.

Busch, who drives the Miccosukee Resorts/NOS Energy Drink Toyota for Billy Ballew Motorsports, most recently competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on June 14. He finished seventh at Michigan International Speedway.

To Busch, the record is secondary to pushing Ballew back into contention for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series owners' championship. Ballew ranked second after the Michigan round but has fallen to fifth, 63 points behind leader DeLana Harvick whose driver, Ron Hornaday Jr., also leads the standings heading into the season's 13th race.

"I want to keep Billy up front and no one else can do it," said Busch. "I think it's cool that as long as he's been in the sport, he's finally got a chance to win a championship and I want to help him keep that alive."