By the Time I Get to Phoenix …
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. (April 16, 2009) – A year ago this month, Kyle Busch proved to be an unstoppable force in the NASCAR Nationwide Series by scoring his first three victories of the season on consecutive April weekends at Texas, Phoenix and Mexico City.
Busch went on to score a series-high 10 wins and finished a solid sixth in the season-ending point standings despite sitting out five of 35 Nationwide Series events.
As the series returns to Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., for Friday night’s Bashas’ Supermarkets 200, Busch will strap into the cockpit of the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) as the defending race winner, where he finds himself on a roll very similar to the one he was in the midst of one year ago.
After thoroughly dominating the April 4 O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, where Busch started from the pole and lead 178 of 200 race laps en route to his second Nationwide Series victory of the year, Busch is a mere .487 of a second from a chance at another three-weekend April win streak on Friday night at Phoenix.
Last Saturday on the Nashville Superspeedway 1.33-mile concrete oval near Lebanon, Tenn., Busch and the No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota had their dominant moments, leading six times for 77 laps and running on virtual cruise control at the front of the pack until a pair of late-race cautions. JGR teammate Joey Logano took advantage of those late-race restarts, scooted past Busch and crossed the finish line less than a half-a-second ahead of
him. To see the disappointment on Busch’s face afterward, you’d thought the 23-year-old from Las Vegas finished dead last and not in the runner-up spot for his third top-two finish in six Nationwide Series outings in 2009.
By the time he gets to Phoenix, Busch will be well over the disappointment, particularly knowing the runner-up finish at Nashville, coupled with the fifth-place outing by Carl Edwards, moved Busch to within 23 points of Edwards for the Nationwide Series point lead.
If recent Nationwide Series history at Phoenix is any indication, count on Friday night’s race to come down to a mad dash to the finish by those same two competitors. Busch’s victory in the spring race last year was by .241 of a second in a green-white-checker finish over Edwards, giving him two in a row at the mile oval after his first-place finish in the November 2007 race.
Edwards returned the favor last November in another wild green-white-checker finish over Busch’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin in the No. 18 Toyota, crossing the line by a mere .096 of a second while Busch saw his shot at a Phoenix three-peat come to a disappointing end with a fifth-place run in the No. 32 Braun Racing Toyota.
Busch and the No. 18 team will dust off the very same JGR chassis (No. 1886) that Hamlin used to qualify on the pole at Phoenix last November, lead 62 race laps, and drive to within a whisker of victory. And, yes, there will be motivation aplenty for Busch with the Nationwide Series point lead up for grabs, the comforts of the desert Southwest surroundings for the Las Vegas native behind the wheel, and a track record at Phoenix that includes
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (November 2005) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (November 2007) wins in addition to his recent Nationwide Series triumphs.
Joining Busch and Z-Line Designs at Phoenix as they seek victory will be Ultimate Electronics. The privately held consumer electronics retailer is a leader in home and car entertainment systems. Based in Colorado for more than 40 years, the company has 32 superstores in nine states, including nine locations in Colorado. Ultimate Electronics provides the industry’s most comprehensive selection of name brand consumer electronics with an emphasis on innovation and technology, with the widest range of prices on all product offerings. Ultimate Electronics also offers a broad selection of home appliances in its stores in Denver, Colorado Springs,
Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Okla. For both electronics and appliances, Ultimate Electronics
shops the competition every single day, and then adjusts its prices so consumers always get the lowest price. Superstores feature multiple home theater and audio demonstration rooms, as well as knowledgeable, service-driven sales consultants who are passionate about consumer electronics.
