Busch makes history; sends a message to Sprint Cup competitors

Kyle Busch won the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races at the Auto Club Speedway last weekend. Jared C. Tilton/Icon SMI Tim Tuttle's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tim. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

Kyle Busch wasn't able to run the table at the Auto Club Speedway last weekend, but he delivered a clear message by running third in the Sprint Cup race and winning the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races: He's going to win often in all three of NASCAR's national series this year, just like he did in 2008.

Busch became the first driver in NASCAR history to win two national events on the same day Saturday. He led 95 of 100 laps in the trucks and won by nine seconds. A few hours later, he led 143 of 150 laps to take the Nationwide race by one second.

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota couldn't match the speed of winner Matt Kenseth and runner-up Jeff Gordon in Sunday's 250-lap, 500-mile Sprint Cup race.

"It was a great weekend," Busch said. "We wish we could have won the race, that's for sure, and pull off the triple. It was a real good solid run for us. We just kept on making it better and we got up there. A lot of guys made their stuff worse. It was a good rebound from last week."

Busch finished 41st after his dominant car was involved in crash at Daytona before a third place at Fontana jumped him from 38th to 18th in the points. While he will undoubtedly be in the Chase, he needed to get moving in the right direction and build up some momentum.

"We wanted to come to these places and run well," Busch said. "This is one of the Chase races, so we have to set it in stone right now that we're going to be contenders in the final 10. We've got a good, strong start here and hopefully we can go to Vegas, roll in there and finish well there, and go on into the next ones."

Busch climbed steadily from 10th to third, but never regarded the No. 18 as a threat to Kenseth and Gordon.

"I couldn't even challenge them," he said. "I couldn't even keep up with the 17 [Kenseth] and the 24 [Gordon] on that last run. Never thought it was a winning car. Felt like if I could just bide my time right there, I could finish third, just try to protect a third-place finish. I had the best seat in the house for that battle. It was pretty cool to see those guys racing like that. It was a good show for the fans."

Busch has won two NASCAR national races in the same weekend on three occasions and is most likely to become the first to win three.

"It's never been done before, so it's definitely a challenge," Busch said. "We know that. I've won two in one weekend a few times. In Atlanta last year was probably my best shot to do the three. We won Friday [Trucks], Saturday [Nationwide] and we led the most laps and were leading with 20 to go, and we had a shock break, put us in the wall, then we won on Sunday [Cup]. The last one's always the hardest to get. They leave it the hardest to get because it's on Sunday and it's the biggest show. It's not easy in this sport. But never is. But maybe one day."

Busch won 21 national series races a year ago including eight in Cup in his first year with Gibbs, crew chief Steve Addington and Toyota. His problems in the Chase and 10th-place finish in the points made for a long winter. At Fontana, he was back in Victory Lane for the first time in 2009. Like Meatloaf sings, "Two out of three ain't bad."

Gilliland Joins TRG

David Gilliand's time in the unemployment line lasted only one race, albeit it was the Daytona 500. He was hired by new Cup team, TRG Motorsports, and put the team's Chevrolet into a Cup race for the first time at Fontana.

Gilliland had to qualify on speed and was the fourth fastest out of 13 in the same situation. Five went home. Gilliland finished 33rd in the race.

"I need to keep my career going," Gilliland said. "It's very important to be out there."

After finishing 27th in the points and driving in all 36 races last season for Yates Racing, Gilliland found out in mid-January that a lack of sponsorship would prevent him from returning. Yates had kept Gilliland under contract, but released him Friday.

Gilliland, the polesitter for the Daytona 500 in 2007 for Yates, wasn't able to find a team for NASCAR's biggest race.

"I went to Daytona and walking around was hard," Gilliland said. "But I ran into [TRG General Manager] Butch Hylton and that's definitely what got the wheels rolling."

TRG has been a fixture in sports car racing for 15 years and moved into NASCAR in the Truck series last year. Owner Kevin Buckler decided to run a limited program in Cup. Mike Wallace drove for the team at Daytona and barely missed the race.

Gilliland was hired on a race-by-race basis and he'll be back in the TRG car this weekend at Las Vegas.

"We're going to re-examine everything after Bristol," Buckler said. "Our results will dictate the future. Our ultimate goal is to run the full season."

Buckler's goal is to have TRG in the top-35 in owner points following Bristol, the fifth race of the season, when this year's points replace last year's for guaranteed spots in the field.