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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch is attempting to continue his winning ways here at Bristol Motor Speedway, having swept race weekends at Martinsville Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway the past two weekends.
Sprint Cup victories at the two tracks inched the 30-year-old closer to another notable mark — he’s only one win away from tying three-time premier series champion Tony Stewart as the winningest driver to ever suit up for JGR.
Between 1999 and 2008, Stewart scored 33 of his 48 career wins while driving for Joe Gibbs. He has won 15 times since moving over to become a driver and co-owner at Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009.
Busch has earned 32 of his 36 career victories since moving to JGR in 2008. His first four wins in the Cup Series came while driving for Hendrick Motorsports.
“I never even knew that, but that’s pretty neat,” Busch said of the overall win mark at JGR. “It does mean a little bit. Tony being there for the amount of years that he was there and winning two championships for the Coach (Joe Gibbs) … he was a huge part of our team and the way that it grew from when it went from one car to two cars and then from two to three, obviously he was there for all of that.
“I certainly wish that I was teammates with him for a lot longer than I was, but to have the opportunity to go out there this year and maybe win a few more races and to beat him as far as the all-time wins leader at JGR, that would be pretty special and I would like that a lot.
“Maybe I’ll give him a handshake when it’s all said and done.”
Eight drivers have scored premier series wins for the organization. In addition to Stewart and Busch, others are current JGR drivers Denny Hamlin (27), Matt Kenseth (12) and Carl Edwards (2) as well as Bobby Labonte (21), Joey Logano (2) and Dale Jarrett (2).
Jarrett scored the organization’s first premier series win when he captured the 1993 Daytona 500.
JGR drivers have combined for 131 premier series victories overall.