Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing remain red hot after Kansas
Kyle Busch's victory in Saturday night's Go Bowling 400 at Kansas Speedway means the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion has now won at all but two Cup tracks on the circuit -- Pocono Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It also means Busch has now won eight of the last 32 Cup points races dating back to Sonoma last June. During the same period, no other driver has won more than five times.
This year alone, Busch has finished in the top five nine times in the first 11 races, three of those top fives being victories.
If he can keep this torrid pace up, Busch is on track to win between nine and 10 races this year, something that hasn't been done since 2008, when Busch's now-teammate Carl Edwards was victorious nine times.
The last driver to tally double-digit victories in a season was six-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who won 10 races in 2007.
Busch's own single-season high for Cup victories is eight in 2008, his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing. Busch, who turned 31 last week, has a loftier target in mind: He wants a second consecutive championship, something only Johnson and Jeff Gordon have done in the last 20 years.
But before he gets to that point, Busch will have chances to check off the last two boxes at Charlotte and Pocono in the next month.
"There's two (tracks) that I haven't won at and those two I've had so many opportunities to win at those places," said Busch. "I've not had very many opportunities to win here, so I'm pretty confident that we can knock those off the list."
Right now, there's no doubt the JGR Toyotas have the field covered, with the team scoring victories in six of the first 11 races of the season.
And so far Busch is the best of a team that's strong from top to bottom.
"I'm excited about that opportunity and working with this team of guys and Adam Stevens (crew chief) and everybody that he has assembled," said Busch. "It's so much fun. This group is -- really means a lot to me and let's go on and backup what we did last year."
