Kyle Busch Wins O’Reilly Challenge
November 9, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
Kyle Busch will go for the three in a row Sunday on the 1.5-mile surface of Texas Motor speedway in the Dickies 500 Sprint Cup Series event scheduled after he won his second race of the weekend in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race the O’Reilly Challenge. If he is able to accomplish the feat and win the Dickies 500 on Sunday from fifth on the grid, they’ll have to open up another page of NASCAR history because he would be the first driver to ever win all three races; the Camping World Truck, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series race on the same weekend. His first win of the weekend came behind the wheel of a truck during Friday nights Camping World Truck series race, so if he is able to win Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series event, he’ll accomplish a feat that is difficult to complete. He also moved closer to his first NASCAR title with his win in the O’Reilly Challenge and never looked in trouble as he was in the lead for 179 of 200 scheduled laps.
Kyle Busch won his second race of the weekend Saturday
Busch was able to pull away from Casey Mears during a restart on Lap 187 and in a race to the finish line was able to cross the line 3.154 seconds ahead of Mears. This win is the eighth of the 2009 Nationwide Series season for Kyle Busch, the 29th of his NASCAR career and his fourth Nationwide Series win in a row at Texas. Kyle Busch moves 272 points in front of his nearest competitor with this win, ninth place finisher in the O’Reilly Challenge Carl Edwards and can clinch the 2009 Nationwide Series title Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway by placing better than sixteenth place. He still has two races after that where he only needs to place at least 34th to also clinch the title, so things are looking pretty good for him to win the Nationwide Series title for 2009.
Casey Mears took advantage of a ride he received because of a crash Friday during Sprint Cup Series practice for Sunday’s race by Jeff Burton to finish second with a great run that left him just short. Burton was not seriously hurt but team owner Richard Childress decided to make the change anyway as a precaution. Hats off to the gentlemen for thinking of Burton’s health first and not his ego, there ‘s no point in taking the chance with the lives of people on the track and it’s always better to error on the side of caution.
“Image: Zuma Press”
