NASCAR

Kyle Busch makes sweep look easy as he makes history

Mike Hembree
Special for USA TODAY Sports
Kyle Busch was thrilled to show the crowd a little broom action after sweeping all three races at Bristol Motor Speedway. He led 451 of 1,003 laps.

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- NASCAR’s three national series totaled 1,003 laps at the difficult and resin-coated Bristol Motor Speedway this week.

Kyle Busch led 451 of those laps – a solid 44 percent – in winning all three races. It was "Rowdy" at his very best, as he smoked the field Wednesday in trucks, Friday in Xfinity cars and Saturday in the featured Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race.

Any time Busch shows up in the Xfinity and Truck series, he’s the prohibitive favorite. The rest of the field typically competes for second.

Although he hasn’t had a spectacular season in the Cup Series, with only two wins, he virtually was invincible Saturday night before an impressive crowd at BMS, one of his favorite tracks. He left Bristol chugging down M&M's and splashing a certain energy drink, having shown the roaring crowd – some cheering, some booing, as is the "Rowdy" norm – three fingers to illustrate the Bristol sweep.

Erik Jones was the final challenger to Busch’s march Saturday night. He followed Busch around the fast half-mile for the closing laps, gaining a little on one lap, losing it on the next. Busch handled the lapped traffic – and there was a lot of it – masterfully, preventing Jones from getting close enough to make a solid challenge.

Busch won by 1.422 seconds, gaining a springboard into the rapidly approaching playoffs and becoming just the 18th driver to reach 40 Cup victories. It's also the second time he's swept here - he also did it in 2010 - and he's the only driver to complete the feat.

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Jones, who had the best look at Busch’s Saturday night strength, said Kyle’s Bristol week was stunning.

“He puts himself in a situation to win a lot of races, but he still has to go out and execute, and that’s not easy to do,” Jones said. “People rag on him for [running] trucks and Xfinity, but obviously he’s doing a great job at that level.

“He’s had a ton of speed all year long. He’s really on it. He’s got it going on. It’s hard to keep up with him.”

That was the case this week, for sure.

Jones said Busch’s workweek was all the more impressive because his wins were accomplished “with three different teams, three different crew chiefs and three different cars. They all drive different. It’s three different tracks the way the cars move around.”

And, Jones pointed out, it’s no easy thing to drive in all three races in a four-day span. Winning all three? Sorta ridiculous.

“Running just double-duty isn’t easy,” he said. “I’ve run triple-duty several times, and it’s something honestly I don’t want to do again.”

Busch? Clearly, he doesn’t mind. Bring them on in clusters.

Follow Hembree on Twitter @mikehembree