NASCAR: Kyle Busch takes subtle jab at Richard Petty’s all-time wins record

Kyle Busch, who has a chance to break Richard Petty’s all-time NASCAR wins record this weekend at Auto Club Speedway, took a subtle jab at this record.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch is set to enter this weekend with 199 career NASCAR victories under his belt. He has earned 52 career Cup Series victories, an all-time record 94 career Xfinity Series victories and an all-time record 53 career Truck Series victories.

With Busch being set to compete in this Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, the Production Alliance Group 300, and this Sunday’s Cup Series race, the Auto Club 400, at Auto Club Speedway, he has a chance to not only tie but break the all-time NASCAR wins record of 200, which is held by Richard Petty, this weekend.

While the 33-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native has earned the overwhelming majority of his NASCAR victories in the sport’s two lower series, Petty earned all 200 of his victories in the Cup Series.

Busch stated before the 2019 season began, at which point he had earned 194 career NASCAR victories (51 Cup Series victories, 93 Xfinity Series victories and 52 Truck Series victories), that he would not put his 200 victories on par with Petty’s for this reason.

Here is what he had to say about the matter at the time, according to Autoweek.

"“No. Absolutely not because his number is obviously Cup wins and mine’s not. I feel as though I’m chasing Jeff Gordon (93 Cup wins) or maybe even David Pearson (105). Maybe — I don’t know if I can get there. I like to think I can get there. I’m at 51 right now, so if I can get another 50 in the next 10 years, that would certainly be nice to go out with 100 Cup wins. Nobody will ever touch 200.”"

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In adding five more victories to this win total in just eight races so far this season, Busch has maintained his overall stance that a comparison of his victories to be Petty’s victories would fit the description of an apples-to-oranges comparison.

But he made sure to let everybody know just how Petty earned a sizable portion of his victories, and he made sure to get the message across in a way that even made his 147 combined Xfinity Series and Truck Series victories look a lot better on the grand scale of things.

Here is what Busch had to say about Petty’s record, according to Racing News.

"“It’s not my job to compare or say which one was harder or easier. There’s other people out there that can argue that fact who have seen Richard Petty run races that were 50-lappers back at the Fairgrounds. It was a Cup race and there were 16 cars in the field. It’s not for me to argue. I don’t care.”"

It’s not Busch’s job to compare his wins to Petty’s. There are “other people” who can do that.

It’s not Busch’s job to argue. There are “other people” who can do that.

Busch doesn’t care. There are “other people” who can care about that.

But at the same time, the ultra-competitive driver of the #18 Toyota made sure to take a subtle jab at Petty’s record by referencing the fact that Petty competed in “50-lappers back at the Fairgrounds” with “16 cars in the field”, two factors that weigh heavily in the debate when it comes to arguing that Petty’s 200 Cup Series victories in his day aren’t worth nearly 200 Cup Series victories in the modern era.

Busch did go on to reiterate the fact that he feels that earning 200 NASCAR victories would be his own accomplishment as opposed to one that should be compared to Petty earning his 200 NASCAR victories, which is a belief that an overwhelming majority of NASCAR fans hold.

Here is what he had to say about the matter, according to Racing News.

"“What I said from the beginning of all of this…It’s not a comparison to Richard Petty’s 200 wins. It is my own and an accomplishment of itself that should stand alone separate from Richard.”"

Will Kyle Busch win either one of this weekend’s two NASCAR races at Auto Club Speedway to tie Richard Petty’s all-time NASCAR wins record? Will he win them both to break Petty’s record?

The Xfinity Series race at the track, the Production Alliance Group 300, is set to be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 beginning at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 16. The Cup Series race at the track, the Auto Club 400, is set to be broadcast live on Fox beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 17, so be sure not to miss either one of them.