FORT WORTH, Texas — Four races in NASCAR’s top three series over eight days – and Kyle Busch won them all.
From Martinsville to Texas, Busch had consecutive weekend sweeps, something last done 25 years ago.
“I think the magic is Kyle Busch, but that’s just me,” Busch said with a smile before looking to car owner Joe Gibbs, who started laughing and told the No. 18 Toyota driver to not freak out on him.
“I’d admit I think it’s everything,” Busch then said. “You’ve got to have all the pieces of the puzzle put together, but I think more importantly we’ve got good cars, but the crew chiefs are just doing a really good job right now.”
Plus, the defending Sprint Cup champion can win races in whatever he drives. Busch, 30, has 36 Sprint Cup victories, 80 Xfinity Series wins and 45 more in the Camping World Truck Series.
Along with his second consecutive Cup victory, taking the checkered flag early Sunday morning in a rain-delay race, his Texas two-step included winning for the fourth time in his five Xfinity starts of 2016. His sweep at Martinsville was a truck victory and the Cup race.
“The guy is good. He’s got a great team behind him, and they put themselves in position at the end,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., the runner-up in the first Cup night race this season. “I ain’t surprised by any means.”
The next Sprint Cup and Xfinity doubleheader is this weekend at Bristol, where Busch swept three races in the same weekend in August 2010. The trucks don’t race again until May 6.
Harry Gant had consecutive weekend sweeps at Richmond and Dover in 1991, during a stretch when he won four Cup races in a row at age 51. It was Busch’s second weekend sweep at Texas, after doing it in the spring of 2013.
Busch, now the Sprint Cup points leader, led only 34 of 334 laps Saturday night. He passed Martin Truex Jr. on Lap 302 and went on to beat Earnhardt by nearly 4 seconds.
Previous points leader Kevin Harvick slid to third after a 10th-place finish.
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