The temperatures are going to soar to near the century mark this weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway. That will make difficult conditions to the drivers and teams during both days of action.
But, one driver will still be pulling triple duty. Kyle Busch will make his fourth Xfinity Series start of the year on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN). He rolls off 28th.
Busch, has finished third, second and first respectively in his three NXS starts of the year thus far. He will have three starts left after this weekend in the series.
Then, that night, Busch will contest in the Truck Series race (8 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN) on the same track.
Owner-driver Busch returns to the Cessna Tundra for his fifth and final NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Series start this season. The Truck Series All-Time Wins leader has added two victories to his resume this season, winning in his first start of the year at Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway and his most recent outing at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
Busch’s victory total in NASCAR’s third division now stands at 58 and combined with his 56 NASCAR Cup Series victories and 97 NASCAR Xfinity Series wins he holds the record for most combined wins across NASCAR’s National Touring Series with 210.
The 35-year-old driver has won 37.6% (58/154) of the Truck Series races he has entered and finished first or second in 55.2% (85/154).Despite competing in just four of the seven Gander Trucks races this season, Busch leads the series in stage wins (five), laps led (252) and fastest laps run (182) this season.
“I’m looking forward to Saturday night at Texas — it’s a place where KBM has had a lot of speed the last few seasons,” Busch said. “We swept the races last year — I won in the spring and Biffle (Greg) came of retirement and hopped in the truck for a one-race deal and won in June, so I’m confident that we’ll be have a fast Cessna Tundra on Saturday.
“It’s a place that’s hard to pass at, similar to what they experienced at Kentucky last week, but if you can get out front and stay out front, like we know that we are capable of doing, you don’t have to worry about passing.
“We appreciate Textron Aviation’s support again this year, they’ve been onboard for my Truck Series starts the last four years and fortunately several of those have ended in victory lane. Hopefully we can get them another victory on Saturday night and close out my portion of the Truck Series season on a high note.”
At Texas Motor Speedway, “Rowdy” has four wins in Gander Trucks competition, including his two most recent outings; last March and before that October of 2014. In addition to his four wins at the 1.5-mile oval, he has compiled 453 laps led, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.2 across 13 starts. The Las Vegas native has scored three Cup Series wins and nine Xfinity Series victories at Texas.
Busch, is looking for momentum and speed on the Cup side for Sunday’s race (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN). Maybe these preliminary races boosts his confidence.
