It is so rare to get a second chance at making history. The sports world, and the world in general, is littered with individuals who almost did something amazing – only to fall just short of the mark.
Take Kyle Busch for example. Last year at Bristol, he almost made NASCAR history by sweeping the three events there. He won the truck race earlier in the week. He aced the Sprint Cup race. He had just taken the lead in the Nationwide race when he was wrecked by Chase Austin, a driver who was a lap down. Two out of three ain’t bad, but it ain’t historic, either.
This year Busch came back to Bristol with a win in the Truck race on Wednesday. He followed that victory with a smash mouth (smash bumper?) win on Friday night. You know a driver’s stars are aligned when he basically acknowledges that he intentionally wrecked a fellow driver and gets off scott free.
Even though NASCAR mysteriously chose to ignore Busch’s antics, the fans didn’t see it that way. Busch was roundly booed after the win and again at the introductions before Saturday’s Sprint Cup race. The only time that Kyle Busch‘s name and cheers were heard together was when Brad Keselowski used his own introduction to say “Kyle Busch is an ass.”
Busch had the last laugh, however. He won Saturday night. He won convincingly. With that victory, he jumped five places in the Sprint Cup standings. Much bigger than those five places, though, is the ticket into the NASCAR history books that Busch earned by becoming the first driver to sweep Bristol.
Three things I know – #1 No matter where he is in the standings at this time next year, Busch will be the man to beat at Bristol in 2011. Going five out of six will put a mark on a driver. #2 Keselowski will be looking for some payback in the coming weeks. #3 Kyle Busch should be glad the Chase Austin was nowhere near the track at Bristol this weekend.
