Busch has chance for sweep at Texas

Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas

Kyle Busch has a chance at another NASCAR trifecta.

While out of contention for the Sprint Cup championship, Busch gets to go for a weekend sweep at Texas after winning the Nationwide Series race Saturday.

“It would be real special, certainly at another venue. I think that this opportunity for that (Sunday) would be something special,” Busch said. “I would certainly cherish it as much as the first.”

The win Saturday was Busch’s 141st victory in NASCAR’s top three series and record-extending 70th in the Nationwide Series. He also was won 29 times in the Sprint Cup Series and his 42nd victory in the Camping World Truck Series came Friday night at the high-banked, 11/2-mile track.

He has 15 victories this season, seven each in Nationwide and Truck and one in Cup. He starts ninth Sunday in the Cup race at Texas.

Busch led 116 of 200 laps and finished 11/2 seconds ahead of Joey Logano, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its 100th Nationwide victory.

“Obviously, it’s a special moment for all the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing,” Busch said. “I’m proud to be part of the effort, a small part of the effort.”

Busch also won Nationwide and truck races at Texas in the fall of 2009, but finished 11th in the Cup race to end the weekend after leading 232 laps. The following year, he did pull off a tripleheader sweep at Bristol.

Nationwide season leader Chase Elliott finished fourth, moving 48 points ahead of Regan Smith with two races left. Smith finished 11th.

“We really struggled to start the day, we qualified 11th and we were struggling to run 13th, and couldn’t hardly get inside the top 10 early,” Elliott said. “For me , for us, to go from that to be able to battle into the top five ... it was a great team effort to be able to turn a really, really bad day into a decent finish for us.”