Combined, Kyle and Kurt Busch have won the last four NASCAR Cup Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway. Will they continue their brotherly dominance there?
The winning NASCAR Cup Series driver at Bristol Motor Speedway is often the one who avoids the most trouble and races both wisely and hard. Brothers Kyle and Kyle Busch have won the last four Cup Series races at the track. Will either one of them celebrate in victory lane after winning the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race this Saturday evening?
Combined, the Busch brothers have won 14 of the 117 (11.96%) Cup Series races at the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee.
Considering the fact that the Cup Series has raced there twice annually since July 30, 1961, the brothers’ dominance is remarkable. Their combined winning streak there began on August 19, 2017. On that day, Kyle regained the lead from Erik Jones on lap 445 and won by 1.422 seconds over Jones in second place.
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The Busch brothers swept the two Cup Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2018. Kyle won the April race, and Kurt won August race.
Kyle then won his eighth race at Bristol Motor Speedway this season when he held off Kurt in second place. During his post-race celebrations, Kyle relished in the Busch brothers’ dominance at the track. He remarked, “Busch and Bristol – that sounds familiar.”
After Kurt failed to pass Kyle for the win, he commented: “I was going to wreck him in turns 3-4 coming to take the checkered. I was going to flat out wreck him.”
Kyle retorted, “I told him, ‘You can’t tell people that you’re going to wreck them before you do it because when the roles are reversed, that person’s gonna wreck you. Because you already told them that you were going to wreck them.’ So, I guess if I’m ever running 2nd to Kurt, I’m gonna wreck him! I don’t know, I’m glad it didn’t turn out that way and he couldn’t get to me. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in that situation.”
In particular, Kyle has excelled at Bristol Motor Speedway. He swept all three national NASCAR series races there in August of 2010 and again in August of 2017. Lionel Racing celebrated the occasion in 2017 when they created a race weekend sweep set.
Both Busch brothers are already locked into the playoffs this season. Kyle has won four races and currently leads the championship standings. Kurt won the race at Kentucky Speedway. He dashed past Kyle on the final restart to win for the first time as the driver of the #1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
There is friendly camaraderie between the Busch brothers. After Kyle beat Kurt at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt flat-out admitted he would have wrecked him. When Kurt beat Kyle at Kentucky Speedway, Kyle didn’t say he would wreck Kurt. Instead, he simply left on his plane to go back home. The only catch? Kurt was supposed to be a passenger on the same flight. So Kurt had to find his own way home!
Even though both Busch brothers have already won this season and are locked into the playoffs, they will contend for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race victory. Yes, if you are a betting person, the Busch brothers are definitely the favorites to win under the lights at “The Last Great Colosseum”.
The Busch brothers and the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field are set to compete in the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race on Saturday, August 17. This 500-lap race is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. ET with live TV coverage provided by NBC Sports Network.