CUP: Drivers Double Up At Kentucky

Sprint Cup

CUP: Drivers Double Up At Kentucky

Kyle Busch will compete in all three races at Kentucky Speedway this weekend...

Tom Jensen | Posted July 05, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Kyle Busch is the only driver competing in all three NASCAR events this week at Kentucky Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

With the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing at Kentucky Speedway for the first time on Saturday night, there will be no shortage of drivers pulling double duty to get some extra seat time.

While many, if not most, of the Cup regulars have tested at the 1.5-mile oval at one point or another, not all of them have raced there. As a result, many of them are racing in the NNS race at Kentucky this weekend, hoping to gain an advantage for the main event on Saturday night.

Among the Cup regulars, nine of them are entered in the NNS race: Kasey Kahne (JR Motorsports), Kyle Busch and Joey Logano (Joe Gibbs Racing), Brad Keselowski (Penske Racing), Mark Martin (Turner Motorsports), Kevin Harvick (Kevin Harvick Inc.), Carl Edwards (Roush Fenway Racing), David Reutimann (Rusty Wallace Racing) and Joe Nemechek (NEMCO Motorsports).

Busch is the only driver slated to run all three races, while both Elliott Sadler and Jennifer Jo Cobb will run the NNS and NCWTS races. It will make for a busy weekend for drivers and crews alike.

“Any time that NASCAR has a tripleheader at the same truck, you know that I have my eyes on winning all three races,” said Busch. “With the Sprint Cup Series racing at Kentucky for the first time, it gives me another shot at a trifecta. ... I think we'll have a good shot at getting the weekend started with a win in the truck and been one of the contenders in both the Nationwide race on Friday and the Cup race Saturday.”

While Busch expects to be a contender in all three series, his stiffest competition in the Nationwide and Truck Series races figures to come from his old nemesis, Kevin Harvick Inc.

KHI’s Sadler, who is running for the NNS championship this year, ought to be tough opposition for Busch on both Thursday and Friday night.

“I am really looking forward to going to Kentucky,” said Sadler. “I've tested there a lot in the past few years, but this will actually be my first time competing at the track. ... Being that we have never raced there as a team, I am actually going to run the trucks there on Thursday night and come back and run the OneMain Financial Chevrolet on Friday night. We will have a lot of extra practice time.”

Whether the extra seat team proves beneficial remains to be seen. But without question, the enthusiasm level is sky high at Kentucky.

“I keep telling people that they don’t know what they’re in for when we go to Kentucky,” said Edwards, who has Nationwide and Truck Series victories at the track. “The fans are unreal. It’s going to be a huge, huge event and it’s because the fans love NASCAR racing there. I’ve been going there for eight years now and every time I go they ask, ‘When are we gonna get a Cup race?’”

“It should be a great atmosphere; they have had great crowds for the Truck and Nationwide Series races in the past, and the Cup race is already a sellout,” said Busch. “Hopefully, we can make it a memorable weekend.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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