NASCAR: Kyle Busch achieves rare feat in first attempt since 2009

Kyle Busch winning NASCAR Truck Series races is nothing new. He opened up his five-race 2024 schedule on Saturday afternoon with an unsurprising seventh career series win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, extending his all-time series wins record to 65.

Busch has never competed full-time in the Truck Series, and all 65 of his victories have come during his tenure as a full-time Cup Series driver, which goes back to 2005. Including all three NASCAR national series, he has 230 career victories, the most all-time.

But on Saturday afternoon, Busch did something he hadn't done in the Truck Series since 2009: win a race for a team other than his own.

After the 2023 season, Kyle Busch Motorsports sold all of their Truck Series assets to Spire Motorsports.

The 38-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native remained interested in competing in as many Truck Series races as possible (the cap on drivers with Busch's Cup Series experience has been five races since 2018). The Jeff Dickerson and T.J. Puchyr-owned team opted to allow him to do that behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet in 2024.

Busch had not competed for a Truck Series team other than Kyle Busch Motorsports since before Kyle Busch Motorsports existed. He competed for Roush Racing in select races in 2001, Morgan-Dollar Motorsports in select races in 2004, and Billy Ballew Motorsports in select races from 2005 to 2009.

He won 48 races with his own team from 2010 to 2023, and all 16 of his previous wins had come with Billy Ballew Motorsports. The most recent of those victories came at Texas Motor Speedway in November 2009.

He had not won a Truck Series race with Chevrolet since November 2007 at Phoenix Raceway.

Busch's start on Saturday made Spire Motorsports the third new team for which he has competed since the start of last season. He left Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota to realign with Chevrolet after the 2022 season and now competes for Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series, and he competed in select races for Kaulig Racing last year in the Xfinity Series.

His Truck Series win streak now sits at 20 consecutive seasons.

Busch is set to compete in the upcoming Truck Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday, March 1; Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 16; Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, April 12; and Darlington Raceway on Friday, May 10.