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Busch bows out of pursuit of all three different titles
Sprint Cup Series point leader Kyle Busch has abandoned any hope of competing for two NASCAR national touring division championships, which he had attempted through the most recent weekend.
Busch's name is listed on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Nationwide Series Milwaukee 250 at The Milwaukee Mile, in a No. 10 Braun Racing Toyota, but a Braun spokesperson said Busch would remain in Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend's Sprint Cup event and not travel to Milwaukee.
Five other drivers -- Nationwide Series leader Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann, defending series champion Carl Edwards, David Ragan and Marcos Ambrose -- will make the trip from Sonoma to compete in Milwaukee.
But on TNT's Sunday pre-race show at Michigan International Speedway, Busch said he had given up on continuing to race for the Nationwide Series championship, in which he's competed in the first 16 races -- the last two weekends going to great lengths to run two races in both Cup and Nationwide in four different states.
"We are so far behind in the Nationwide stuff it's not worth trying to catch back up," Busch said of his fifth-place standing, 243 points behind Bowyer. "Clint Boywer is pretty good and such a consistent driver that it's too hard to catch back up, so we aren't going to stress ourselves trying to make it.
"We are just going to have fun now and win the races and not stress on getting to where we've got to go."
Busch had never intended to compete for the Craftsman Truck Series drivers' title, but after the first 10 races in which Busch has run eight times and won twice in owner Billy Ballew's No. 51 Toyota, that truck is second in the owner standings, only eight points behind Johnny Benson's owner, Bill Davis (complete standings).
On Sunday morning at Michigan, Joe Gibbs, the owner of Busch's primary ride, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series, had said he saw no issues with Busch's globe-trotting antics and that, in the end, common sense would rule.
"As young as [Busch] is I think he has a great enthusiasm for all of that," Gibbs said. "Every now and then you run across someone like that. Tony [Stewart, another JGR driver] is a little bit that way -- they want to race everything. That's when they're happy [and] they get a thrill out of it.
"I don't sense that it wears [Busch] out and I don't think Steve [Addington, Busch's crew chief] has sensed that there is anything there that would detract from his Cup effort and certainly I don't think that it has. I think it's just one of those things where some of the guys want to be in a car every chance that they get."
Two weekends ago, Busch flew to Texas on Friday night after qualifying his Sprint Cup car at Pocono and finished second in the Truck race. That Saturday, he crashed his primary Cup car in practice, then flew to Nashville for Nationwide qualifying and a race, in which he finished 20th. On Sunday, he crashed his Cup car and finished last.
Busch started his Michigan weekend by finishing second in the Truck Series race on Saturday afternoon, then flew to Kentucky for the Nationwide race, in which he crashed and finished 30th (watch video). He then returned to Michigan, where he finished 13th, extending his lead in the Sprint Cup standings to 32 points over Jeff Burton.
Gibbs said everything Busch has done, including four wins in Sprint Cup and four more in Nationwide action between JGR and Braun Racing, is a revelation to him and his organization.
"I don't think anybody would've dreamed that this would've happened -- I don't think there is anybody standing here that would've," Gibbs said. "We're really proud of [Busch] and everything he's done. We're excited about where we are now."
Busch's decision nullified anything he and JGR management would have had to decide later in the season, but Gibbs also said he wasn't concerned about it.
"I think it would just be a common sense discussion," Gibbs said on Sunday morning. "I think that obviously over [in Sprint Cup] a lot goes into this. A lot of people count on him -- obviously our sponsor and everything. You wouldn't want to do anything that would run the risk of jeopardizing what we have over here."
Mike Bliss is scheduled to take Busch's place in Ballew's truck this weekend at Milwaukee, and a Ballew Motorsports spokesperson said the rest of Busch's schedule for the remainder of this season is yet to be determined.
That comes in the aftermath of a clash on the last lap of Saturday's Truck Series race at Michigan. Busch hit former championship leader Ron Hornaday on the last lap and knocked him from the top five to 23rd at the finish.
In the garage area, Hornaday and truck owner Kevin Harvick angrily confronted Busch, who did not make any public comments about the finish, although Hornaday said plenty (watch video).
"I knew he was coming. He had the outside or the inside -- he just drove into me," Hornaday said. "He just drove into me because he got mad because I took us four-wide and passed him cleanly. Halfway through the race, he showed me he was upset because he lifted the back of the truck up.
"If he is going to race that way that is pretty chicken -- he doesn't deserve to be a racer. He has a lot of talent, but that is just flat stupid. If Billy Ballew needs a championship that bad for owners, he has the right driver.
"I don't knock any other driver, but I will tell you what, that kid has just about done wore me out. I don't know if I have to give up this championship to teach him a lesson -- I hope I don't hurt him, because if Joe Gibbs lets him do this, I am ashamed for them.
"I tried to talk to him as a friend. He is just out there; I don't know what it is. I guess it is an ego trip and if he is going to wreck me every week, I guess we are going to have to do it back to him."
Sprint Cup Series point leader Kyle Busch has abandoned any hope of competing for two NASCAR national touring division championships, which he had attempted through the most recent weekend.
Busch's name is listed on the preliminary entry list for this weekend's Nationwide Series Milwaukee 250 at The Milwaukee Mile, in a No. 10 Braun Racing Toyota, but a Braun spokesperson said Busch would remain in Sonoma, Calif., for this weekend's Sprint Cup event and not travel to Milwaukee.
Five other drivers -- Nationwide Series leader Clint Bowyer, David Reutimann, defending series champion Carl Edwards, David Ragan and Marcos Ambrose -- will make the trip from Sonoma to compete in Milwaukee.
But on TNT's Sunday pre-race show at Michigan International Speedway, Busch said he had given up on continuing to race for the Nationwide Series championship, in which he's competed in the first 16 races -- the last two weekends going to great lengths to run two races in both Cup and Nationwide in four different states.
"We are so far behind in the Nationwide stuff it's not worth trying to catch back up," Busch said of his fifth-place standing, 243 points behind Bowyer. "Clint Boywer is pretty good and such a consistent driver that it's too hard to catch back up, so we aren't going to stress ourselves trying to make it.
"We are just going to have fun now and win the races and not stress on getting to where we've got to go."
Busch had never intended to compete for the Craftsman Truck Series drivers' title, but after the first 10 races in which Busch has run eight times and won twice in owner Billy Ballew's No. 51 Toyota, that truck is second in the owner standings, only eight points behind Johnny Benson's owner, Bill Davis (complete standings).
On Sunday morning at Michigan, Joe Gibbs, the owner of Busch's primary ride, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the Sprint Cup Series, had said he saw no issues with Busch's globe-trotting antics and that, in the end, common sense would rule.
"As young as [Busch] is I think he has a great enthusiasm for all of that," Gibbs said. "Every now and then you run across someone like that. Tony [Stewart, another JGR driver] is a little bit that way -- they want to race everything. That's when they're happy [and] they get a thrill out of it.
"I don't sense that it wears [Busch] out and I don't think Steve [Addington, Busch's crew chief] has sensed that there is anything there that would detract from his Cup effort and certainly I don't think that it has. I think it's just one of those things where some of the guys want to be in a car every chance that they get."
Two weekends ago, Busch flew to Texas on Friday night after qualifying his Sprint Cup car at Pocono and finished second in the Truck race. That Saturday, he crashed his primary Cup car in practice, then flew to Nashville for Nationwide qualifying and a race, in which he finished 20th. On Sunday, he crashed his Cup car and finished last.
Busch started his Michigan weekend by finishing second in the Truck Series race on Saturday afternoon, then flew to Kentucky for the Nationwide race, in which he crashed and finished 30th (watch video). He then returned to Michigan, where he finished 13th, extending his lead in the Sprint Cup standings to 32 points over Jeff Burton.
Gibbs said everything Busch has done, including four wins in Sprint Cup and four more in Nationwide action between JGR and Braun Racing, is a revelation to him and his organization.
"I don't think anybody would've dreamed that this would've happened -- I don't think there is anybody standing here that would've," Gibbs said. "We're really proud of [Busch] and everything he's done. We're excited about where we are now."
Busch's decision nullified anything he and JGR management would have had to decide later in the season, but Gibbs also said he wasn't concerned about it.
"I think it would just be a common sense discussion," Gibbs said on Sunday morning. "I think that obviously over [in Sprint Cup] a lot goes into this. A lot of people count on him -- obviously our sponsor and everything. You wouldn't want to do anything that would run the risk of jeopardizing what we have over here."
Mike Bliss is scheduled to take Busch's place in Ballew's truck this weekend at Milwaukee, and a Ballew Motorsports spokesperson said the rest of Busch's schedule for the remainder of this season is yet to be determined.
That comes in the aftermath of a clash on the last lap of Saturday's Truck Series race at Michigan. Busch hit former championship leader Ron Hornaday on the last lap and knocked him from the top five to 23rd at the finish.
In the garage area, Hornaday and truck owner Kevin Harvick angrily confronted Busch, who did not make any public comments about the finish, although Hornaday said plenty (watch video).
"I knew he was coming. He had the outside or the inside -- he just drove into me," Hornaday said. "He just drove into me because he got mad because I took us four-wide and passed him cleanly. Halfway through the race, he showed me he was upset because he lifted the back of the truck up.
"If he is going to race that way that is pretty chicken -- he doesn't deserve to be a racer. He has a lot of talent, but that is just flat stupid. If Billy Ballew needs a championship that bad for owners, he has the right driver.
"I don't knock any other driver, but I will tell you what, that kid has just about done wore me out. I don't know if I have to give up this championship to teach him a lesson -- I hope I don't hurt him, because if Joe Gibbs lets him do this, I am ashamed for them.
"I tried to talk to him as a friend. He is just out there; I don't know what it is. I guess it is an ego trip and if he is going to wreck me every week, I guess we are going to have to do it back to him."
from Kyle
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