Busch Takes Weekend Off From Victory Lane

One way to keep Kyle Busch out of Victory Lane in NASCAR Nationwide races is keep him off the entry list. He won’t be running at Gateway, where he’s the defending winner. But it’s debatable whether that will have an impact on his overall races-to wins-ratio in 2010.

Busch has started 15 races this year, winning seven, including last week at Chicagoland. He’s currently scheduled to run in 29 races this year. In 188 career NASCAR Nationwide starts, last year’s series champion has 37 wins and now is in second place on the all-time list. He’s chasing Mark Martin, who has 48 wins in 231 starts. Kevin Harvick, who Busch passed for second, has 36 victories in 251 starts. His seven wins at this juncture are tied with former series champions Sam Ard and Jack Ingram, who each had seven wins after 18 races in 1984.

Busch had four wins after 18 races in 2008, when he tied Ard’s record of 10 wins in one season. He ran 30 races that year.