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NASCAR Nationwide Series
NNS: Busch About To Lock Up Title
Kyle Busch can clinch a NASCAR Nationwide Series title with a finish of 15th or better at PIR....
Tom Jensen  |  Posted November 12, 2009   Avondale, AZ
Kyle Busch is the reigning NASCAR Nationwide Series champion. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Kyle Busch won last weeks NASCAR Nationwide event, his fourth series win in a row at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Without question, the 2009 season has been something of a mixed bag for Kyle Busch.

On the down side, Busch was expected to contend for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship this season, but for the first time in four seasons, failed to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

But he’s continued to be money in the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, two places he’s been dominant. Busch has won his last five starts in Billy Ballew’s Toyota Tundra and will be going for a sixth consecutive victory under the lights at Phoenix International Raceway. All told, the 24-year-old Las Vegas native has won 19 races in NASCAR’s top three divisions this season, just two shy of his own record, set last year.

An even bigger milestone looms ahead for Busch Saturday at PIR, where it’s extremely likely that he’ll clinch his first NASCAR series championship.

Last weekend, Busch won the Truck Series and Nationwide races at Texas Motor Speedway, the latter giving him a lead of 272 points over Carl Edwards. That means if Busch finishes 15th or better in Saturday’s Able Body Labor 200 at PIR, he’ll be the 2009 Nationwide champion. And even if he stumbles at Phoenix, all Busch needs is to average a finish of 34th or better over the final two races to win the title.

It should be a mere formality, as Busch is a two-time Nationwide winner at PIR, and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota has been the dominant car in the series this year by a wide margin. And so Busch understandably is feeling good heading into this weekend’s race.

“We have a great team in place on the Nationwide side that is chomping at the bit to win this championship,” he said. “It's probably a long time coming for Joe Gibbs Racing and they're giving me a very fast NOS Energy Drink Camry to make sure we seal the deal this weekend.”

Busch certainly has posted some stout numbers this year. In 33 Nationwide Series starts, he has eight race victories, 24 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes.

Perhaps the most astonishing figure is how many laps Busch has led in those 33 races. Out of 6,315 laps run in the Nationwide Series this year, Busch has led 2,625, a total of 41.57 percent. And he’ll be looking to add to that this weekend.

“I feel like with the win last weekend (at Texas) that we've slipped back into our groove again and we can win these races,” said Busch. “I'm still really proud of last weekend's performance. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) always brings good cars to Phoenix, so there's no reason to think we can't make it two wins in a row. I'm hoping we can put the finishing touches on a great and consistent season on the Nationwide side.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED, and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com! Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to




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