Busch gets the last laugh with sweep at Bristol

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- After Brad Keselowski played to the Bristol Motor Speedway crowd by calling him a horse's behind in driver introductions, Kyle Busch spent most of the evening showing his tail to the rest of the field.

Busch knew winning three races in one weekend, particularly at Bristol, wasn't going to be a piece of cake. But at the halfway point of Saturday night's Irwin Tools Night Race, he had to wonder where everybody went.

Making history

Kyle Busch made it look easy in Thunder Valley as he dominated the Cup race at Bristol to become the first driver to win three national series events in one weekend.

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• Final Laps: Bristol
• Victory Lane: Busch
• Press Pass: Busch

While Busch was steadily working his way up from his 19th starting spot, guys like Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Carl Edwards were having their way up front. But things have a tendency to change quickly at the World's Fastest Half-Mile.

Running second to Johnson on Lap 126, Stewart slowed to avoid a spinning David Ragan, only to get drilled from behind by Tony Raines. Stewart wound up having to make two pit stops for repairs and returned to the track in 25th. However, his troubles continued, as he slid sideways on Lap 212 and whacked the Turn 2 wall. A stop shortly thereafter under green put Stewart three laps down, and he eventually wound up 27th.

Edwards was running fourth when he had to pit twice to tighten loose lugnuts, which put him at the tail end of the lead lap cars. He rallied to finish 12th, but never was a factor the rest of the way.

That left Johnson, who led all but one of the first 128 laps, as perhaps Busch's closest competition. But on the first lap following a restart just past halfway, Johnson was clipped by Juan Montoya and sent head-first hard into the outside wall. Extensive repairs to replace an oil cooler ended any chances of repeating his win here last spring.

"It was a restart so everybody is out there running hard," Johnson said. "I think I left [Montoya] enough room on the outside lane there. And we were on the straightaway there for a little bit and all the sudden, I got hooked with force.

"It wasn't like we bumped and banged and I squeezed him. But we were on the straightaway and everything was fine, and then around I went. So I don't think it was something intentional and I don't think he was trying to dump me."

The beneficiary of all that craziness, Busch realized he had the best car remaining, but he could be next.

"I could have trouble," Busch said. "You know, so anything can happen in this game and at this stage. But you know, I don't even know what happened to Jimmie. From what I understand and saw, he kind of got spun, I guess, nose into the fence.

"But he was fast. I mean, he was really good. I felt like our car was definitely better than anybody's [by Lap 60]."

But about the time Busch thought he had clear sailing to the weekend sweep, Jamie McMurray and David Reutimann had other ideas.

"Surprisingly, McMurray ran me down in that one long run, and I was like, 'Whoa, where'd he come from?'" Busch said. "So I let him go. I knew we had another pit stop still yet to go, and I knew there was another opportunity for me to work on my car, get some fresh tires, and once we got tires, you know, it was only going to be probably 100 laps that we had to go the rest of the way.

"So I felt like we were better than much of the field. But you know, Reutimann was fast, and he was good. And I'm not going to say why I beat him because then he'll fix it. But it has to do with behind the wheel. He wasn't driving the place right, I'm sorry. If he fixes how to drive this place, he'd be right there with me."

And as is his custom, the glory of this victory -- and the ones on Wednesday and Friday -- will quickly fade for a guy who constantly looks forward rather than worrying about records and history.

"This one is over," Busch said. "We just won. It's awesome, it's great for the team. You know, we've got an off-day [Sunday]. We can celebrate, do whatever we want to do. I'm sure [crew chief Dave Rogers] is going to invite me over to the new pool."

And so it's another first for Kyle Busch, although he admits he'll treat it just like he treats the taunts from other drivers and boos from fans. He'll let it slide off his back and put it behind him, literally.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.