NASCAR: Kyle Busch’s record-breaking 201st win fittingly came in a Truck race

By Asher Fair | Mar 24, 2019

MARTINSVILLE, VA - MARCH 23: Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Cessna Toyota, poses with the winner's decal on his car in Victory Lane after winning the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series TruNorth Global 250 at Martinsville Speedway on March 23, 2019 in Martinsville, Virginia. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images) /

Kyle Busch’s record-breaking 201st career NASCAR victory came in a Truck Series race, which could not have been more fitting.

In his 999th career NASCAR start across the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Truck Series, Kyle Busch broke the all-time NASCAR wins record with his 201st career victory. Richard Petty previously held this record with 200 victories, of which all are Cup Series victories.

But while Busch’s career Cup Series win total is an impressive 53, which is the third highest win total in Cup Series history for a driver at his age and the 11th highest win total in Cup Series history overall, an overwhelming majority of his career NASCAR victories have come in the Xfinity Series and Truck Series.

In fact, the 33-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native earned the 201st victory of his NASCAR career to break Petty’s all-time wins record by winning the Truck Series race, the TruNorth Global 250, at Martinsville Speedway.

The fact that Busch’s 201st career NASCAR victory came in a Truck Series race could not have been more fitting, and not in a particularly good or bad way.

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The debate about whose NASCAR victories, Busch’s or Petty’s, are more impressive has been going on for quite some time, particularly since the start of the 2019 season, which Busch entered with 51 career Cup Series victories, 92 career Xfinity Series victories and 51 career Truck Series victories (194 career NASCAR victories) to his name.

Those who take Busch’s side in this argument point to the fact that Petty competed in a far less competitive era than Busch does while those who take Petty’s side in this argument point to the fact that 148 of Busch’s 201 career NASCAR victories are victories that he did not earn at the sport’s highest level.

Busch has earned an all-time record 94 career Xfinity Series victories and an all-time record 54 career Truck Series victories, two totals that are higher than his career Cup Series win total but in far fewer starts (503 career Cup Series starts, 348 career Xfinity Series starts and 148 career Truck Series starts).

All debates aside, the fact that Busch broke Petty’s all-time NASCAR wins record, a record that had not changed for decades and a record that Busch will now likely hold for decades if not forever, by winning a Truck Series illustrates what this debate is all about, and it illustrates the fact that no matter how hard either side tries, this debate will never truly be decided.

It brings to the forefront multiple questions that almost every fan has a different opinion on but that will never be answered definitively.

Are Petty’s Cup Series victories really “Cup Series” victories by today’s standards? Are Busch’s Xfinity Series and Truck Series victories just as good if not better that Petty’s Cup Series victories? Should Petty’s victories in what Busch described as “50-lappers back at the Fairgrounds” with “16 cars in the field” — sometimes less than both of those totals — really help his case when compared to Busch?

The list goes on and on, especially considering the fact that this comparison is not just a comparison of eras or series but a comparison of both eras and series at the same time.

Sure, Busch could have earned his 201st career NASCAR victory in a Cup Series race and this debate would still rage on with similar questions; in fact, he tied Petty’s record with his 200th career NASCAR victory in a Cup Series race, as his victory in the Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway was the 200th victory of his career, and this debate was as heated as it ever had been following this victory.

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But the fact that the victory that made Kyle Busch the winningest driver in NASCAR history with an all-time wins record that likely will not be broken, at least not within the next several decades, was a Truck Series victory could not have possibly been more fitting because of how it perfectly illustrates everything about the debate regarding his victories and Richard Petty’s victories.