Points leader in Cup, Truck has Busch enjoying view

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kyle Busch, one of the most talked about drivers in the garage, left California with bragging rights for leading two of the three premier series points in NASCAR at the same time.

In his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch nearly escaped the weekend leading all three seires in what would have been a first in the history of the sport, according to Kerry Tharp, spokesperson for NASCAR.

On at least 11 other occasions, the same driver has led both the Cup and Nationwide series standings -- but one driver has never led all three series at one time, Tharp said.

Busch took over the Sprint Cup points lead with his fourth-place finish in Monday's Auto Club 500, marking the first time a Toyota driver has held the points lead in the Cup Series. Busch is six points ahead of second-place Ryan Newman and 25 points ahead of teammate Tony Stewart in the Cup standings.

Top trucker

Kyle Busch led 51 of 100 laps and won the Truck Series race at Auto Club Speedway to take the series points lead.

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He also leads the Craftsman Truck Series point standings by 20 ahead of Todd Bodine. Busch finished second at Daytona and won Saturday's Truck event in California.

Busch was second in the Nationwide Series standings entering Monday's Stater Bros. 300, trailing Tony Stewart by just 10 points. But Stewart won the race with Busch finishing second -- giving Stewart a 30-point lead in the Nationwide standings heading to Las Vegas.

"It's a good championship points day. It was pretty cool out there to run the way we did in our Toyota," Busch said after Monday's Cup race. "Unfortunately we didn't have quite the car to get up there and contend with those boys at the end, but overall a good day and that's all we can ask for."

Jimmie Johnson, Busch's former teammate last season, said the Gibbs driver is immensely talented no matter what he drives.

"It's awfully early in the year to put too much weight into it, but it doesn't surprise me -- the guy knows how to stand on the right pedal," Johnson said.

Added former teammate Jeff Gordon of Busch's two-series points lead: "If that's the case in Homestead I'll be really impressed. We know how talented he is. But if he does that for the whole year I'll be way impressed."

When Busch left Hendrick Motorsports at the end of last season, making room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. to join the Hendrick stable, it was a tumultuous situation, but since then fences have appeared to be mended.

"It was cool to race with the 24 [Gordon] and 48 [Johnson] like that -- we aren't teammates anymore, but still we respect each other," Busch said. "That was fun."

The Truck Series lead will be short-lived as Busch doesn't compete full time, driving a partial schedule for team owner Billy Ballew. And as for the Cup Series lead, Busch is realistic; he knows it is early in the season.

"It doesn't mean much right here in California," he said. "We've still got 33 weeks left in this deal. We'll take it now and hopefully hold on to it for a while and keep battling with the 24, 48 -- we know they'll come back strong in the points."