Crowning achievement caps season for the ages

By Jarrod Breeze, NASCAR.COM
November 19, 2009
10:22 AM EST

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For the record, Kyle Busch has two top-five finishes in his three Nationwide Series starts at Homestead-Miami Speedway. But where he finishes this week is of no consequence -- easy for me to say, if not for the driver who seems to take every runner-up personally, not to mention 39th-place finish (his worst of the season, in of all places, his hometown of Las Vegas).

No, what matters most is the start. Once the green flag waves with Busch behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota, he becomes the 2009 Nationwide Series champion. Of course, don't expect Busch to let up at that point.

Only one time in the first 27 years of the series has the champion won the season finale (Sam Ard in 1983). Busch, who tied Ard's single-season mark for wins (10) last year, has been statisically dominant again in 2009.

8Wins, three more than any other driver (Carl Edwards and Joey Logano). He has 29 career wins, fourth all time in the series (Mark Martin, 48; Kevin Harvick, 34; Jack Ingram, 31).

11Runner-up finishes, a single-season record. He finished second seven times in a nine-race span from June (Kentucky) to August (Watkins Glen). The other two races resulted in wins, as did the race before that. His 10-race streak of top-two finishes ended with a third at Michigan.

24Top-fives, most in a season since 2000 when Jeff Green posted 25 in a 32-race schedule.

29Weeks in which Kyle Busch has led the point standings, including the past 28 in a row.

2,625Laps led, a single-season record. The next closest driver (Carl Edwards) has led 864 laps. Busch has led in all but three races and led 14 or more laps in all but five races.

And, oh yeah, in case you were wondering: Busch finished third at Homestead in his rookie year of 2004, 41st (crash) in 2006 and second in 2008. Coverage of the Ford 300 (Entry List | Tickets) begins at 4 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN2.

1Wins from the pole: Ryan Newman in 2005. Last year, Carl Edwards became just the second driver to win from the front row.

2Drivers with more than one win at Homestead: Joe Nemechek (3) and Jeff Burton (2). Nemechek also leads all drivers with eight top-10s in 12 races, but hasn't made a start there since 2006.

3Top-fives in each of the past three races for Carl Edwards, the only driver who can make that claim.

7Top-10s for Matt Kenseth, including a win in 2006. His other three starts have resulted in finishes of 36th or worse, with two DNFs (mechanical).

26.5Average starting position for Jeff Burton in his two victories. Burton started 23rd in his first race at HMS in 1998, and 30th, the farthest back of any winner, in 2007.

While Brad Keselowski -- he posted his first top-10 in three starts at Homestead with a third-place finish last year -- trails second place Carl Edwards by 60 points, the biggest race brewing is that for fifth place in the standings. Veteran Mike Bliss, who has one top-10 (seventh in 2003) and finished 14th last year at Homestead, leads rookie Justin Allgaier by 14 points. Allgaier finished 28th in his first start at HMS last year, crashing out eight laps from the finish.

THE WOW FACTOR

4Consecutive top-10 finishes this season for Mike Bliss, who has rebounded from a mid-season firing to work his way into the top five in points. Bliss has scored a top-10 in each of the five races he has driven the No. 11 Toyota. However, he will finish the season in the No. 1 Chevrolet in which he started the season and drove for 21 races with a win and 10 top-10s. Bliss drove the next 13 races for five different teams.

THE SUPER LOOPER

4Perfect Driver Ratings this season for Kyle Busch, bringing his career total to eight. Currently, he has a Driver Rating of 126.2, which is eight points better than the record 118.2 he set last year.

Driver Rating at Homestead (since 2005, four races)

Pos.	Driver*	Starts	Rating	Pct. Laps / Top 15	Avg. Run Pos.	Avg. Fin.

1.	Ryan Newman	2	114.1	99.8	5.9	6.0
2.	Jeff Burton	2	113.1	61.3	15.4	18.0
3.	Carl Edwards	4	112.7	90.5	6.7	6.5
4.	Paul Menard	2	110.4	92.8	7.8	4.0
5.	Matt Kenseth	3	107.1	71.8	11.0	13.3
6.	Joey Logano	1	102.6	100.0	8.1	10.0
7.	Kyle Busch	2	96.8	57.0	17.7	21.5
8.	Denny Hamlin	4	93.4	74.9	12.8	15.3
9.	Scott Wimmer	2	89.0	61.3	13.5	10.5
10.	Kelly Bires	2	82.2	51.3	15.5	14.5

• Loop Data Statistics: Season-to-Date Box Score | * Entered in this race only

BLAST FROM THE PAST

11Career series wins for Dale Jarrett, the last coming in the first race at Homestead in 1995. Jarrett, one of the series' pioneers in 1982, started 26th and led only two laps. Kenny Wallace led a race-high 77 laps but crashed out two laps from the finish.

Series winners at Homestead

Year	Driver	Make	Year	Driver	Make

1995	Dale Jarrett	Ford	2002	Scott Wimmer	Pontiac
1996	Kevin Lepage	Chevrolet	2003	Kasey Kahne	Ford
1997	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	2004	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
1998	Jeff Burton	Ford	2005	Ryan Newman	Dodge
1999	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	2006	Matt Kenseth	Ford
2000	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	2007	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
2001	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	2008	Carl Edwards	Ford

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Standings

Pos.	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind

1.	--	Kyle Busch	5,487	--
2.	--	Carl Edwards	5,297	-190
3.	--	Brad Keselowski	5,237	-250
4.	--	Jason Leffler	4,431	-1,056
5.	+1	Mike Bliss	3,960	-1,527
6.	-1	Justin Allgaier	3,946	-1,541
7.	--	Steve Wallace	3,860	-1,627
8.	--	Jason Keller	3,831	-1,656
9.	--	Brendan Gaughan	3,784	-1,703
10.	--	Michael Annett	3,498	-1,989