Notes: Busch looks ahead to multi-state tripleheader

Kyle Busch has a busy weekend ahead of him. The driver who is finding success in all three of NASCAR's national series will try to do something this weekend that has never been attempted before: compete in all three national series at three different tracks in as many states.

Busch will be behind the wheel of the No. 51 Toyota in the Sam's Town 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night. Saturday, he'll race the No. 32 Toyota for Braun Racing in the Nationwide Series at Nashville Superspeedway for the Federated Auto Parts 300. By Sunday morning he'll arrive back at Pocono Raceway in time to hop into his No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Pocono 500 for the Cup Series.

Fast facts

What	Sam's Town 400
When	Green, 9:15 p.m. ET Friday
TV	SPEED, 8:30 p.m. ET
Radio	MRN (Sirius Ch. 28), 8:30 ET

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"The full emphasis will be set by my Sprint Cup schedule; I am going to make every practice and qualifying in Pocono," said Busch, a winner earlier this year at California and Atlanta. "I'm going to miss qualifying and practice in the truck and in the Nationwide car, but I will be there to race it.

"It's just about racing it and trying to keep ourselves up in the points and keep Billy Ballew up in the owners' standings. A lot of it has to do with the fans: They like to see it and they want to go see a driver trying to race in as many races as they can and to see somebody be as crazy as I am most of the time."

Ballew development driver J.R. Norris will practice and qualify Busch's truck.

"I'm a little nervous because I haven't been in a truck all year," said Norris, who finished 20th at TMS last November. "I wish I could race the truck myself but if Kyle was to win, I know that I played a part in that and that is a good feeling.

"Maybe if this goes well I can get another chance to drive or race for this team or who knows? Maybe for someone else."

Scott Speed Conquers The Monster Mile

For the third week in a row, the Craftsman Truck Series celebrates another first time winner.

Raybestos rookie Scott Speed, in only his sixth start in the series, held off Kevin Harvick Inc.'s Jack Sprague and Ron Hornaday to bring his No. 22 Red Bull Toyota to Victory Lane in the AAA Insurance 200 at Dover International Speedway.

Speed follows Donny Lia and Matt Crafton to victories in consecutive races.

That matched the series first-time winner record set in 1995 and duplicated in 1998.

The win also was the first for the No. 22 team and crew chief Doug Wolcott. The team had competed in 106 races with a number of different drivers including Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve and Bill Lester.

"To be honest with you, whether we win or not, it doesn't affect my confidence," said Speed, who collected his third top-10 finish of the season. "I don't let results control how I feel about myself; I've said it a thousand times.

"We had a good strategy and we had an awesome truck. We got everything we could out of it."

Etc. & Quotable

• Close Battle ... After eight races of the 25-race schedule, the championship points battle is a close one. A 105-point spread separates drivers one through 10.

For the second time in 280 series starts, Rick Crawford sits atop the standings. Crawford's only previous lead was in 2003 after he won the season opener at Daytona.

But his advantage is precarious, to say the least. Matt Crafton is 20 points behind in second. In fact, a slim 68 points cover positions one and eight.

Crafton, who made his first trip to Victory Lane at Lowe's Motor Speedway, is already after win No. 2. Since his win, the driver has finished 12th at Mansfield and fifth at Dover. (Continued)