Posted on by Jessica Ruffin

FORT WORTH, Texas – When Kyle Busch was racing Legends Cars at a young age, the record was eight wins in a single season.

The driver that would later be nicknamed “Rowdy” won 16 races that next year – but had his sights set on more.

“It was, ‘OK, I won 16 in a year and I won 8 in a row, so can I now win 10 in a row or 12 in a row? How can you continue to get better and do better and do greater things?” Busch told NASCAR.com, seated in front of his motorhome Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

“And I think that’s just what stems (from) me continuing to try to evolve and not rest on your laurels and just continue to strive to be better and do all the things that you need to do to succeed and have the opportunities around you when you have the opportunities around you like I do.”

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas

Busch’s talent is inarguable and that gives him the tools to be successful in racing. But it’s his mental toughness and drive that pushes him to be the best. He’s not satisfied with simply being great; he wants to be extraordinary. No matter how strong of a run he’s been on, there’s always room to grow. That’s how all the mentally tough and extraordinary sports figures think, from Tiger Woods to Michael Jordan to Tom Brady.

Busch is no different; when he won his 200th national-series race at Auto Club Speedway earlier this season, Busch was thinking about the next goal shortly after: When can he get win No. 201 (already done), what win total he could be at if he had won a couple more events in 2019 (he’s won 9 of his 14 national races entered prior to the start of Sunday’s Cup race at Texas).

RELATED: ‘Rowdy’ wins Gander Trucks race at Texas

And yes, even the wins can be bettered, too.

“Even when it’s No. 1, you’ve gotta think back to some of the mistakes that you made, some of the things that you didn’t quite do exactly right, keep that kind of in the back of your mind in your notebook and kind of (revisit) with those when you go back to those next season or if you go back to those a second time in the season,” Busch said.

Where does that drive come from? Busch said it’s within him. It always has been. But he also has another tiny – but powerful – person that motivates him: his 3-year-old son, Brexton.

“He might be the biggest reason and the biggest tool I’ve got in my arsenal that gives me the passion and the drive to go out there and win,” Busch said with a smile. “He asks me every time, ‘Hey Dad, you going to go out there and win today?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, buddy we’re going to go out there and win today.’

“When I don’t win, he’s mad. He might be more upset than I’m upset, if that’s believable. He is passionate about it. He wants to win in anything that he does. So I have to let him win a few times but I also have to beat him a few times to show him it’s OK if you lose, you’ve just got to figure out how to get better. You’ve got to figure out how to do the right things the next time to make yourself better.”

MORE: All of Kyle Busch’s national series wins

Young Brexton learned that lesson first-hand recently after taking a tumble on a four-wheeler.

“He was going down a hill, turned it too much and flipped and cried for about five minutes and I said, ‘All right, you done? Ready to get back on, you want to go again?’ ” Busch recalled. “And he was like, no. And I was like, ‘Well you gotta get back on the horse and ride it again …’

“Somehow he understood that, put his helmet back on, got back on and rode it again.”

That same lesson he taught to his son is the one that Busch learned firsthand after breaking his leg and foot at Daytona International Speedway in 2015. From the sidelines, he watched his fellow competitors fight for wins he should have been vying for. He saw someone else pilot his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

He used that as motivation to chop a year-long estimated recovery to three months, resuming a campaign that ended with five Cup victories and his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series championship. That season also coincided with the birth of Brexton, and since his recovery he’s won 61 races across all three series, including 24 in the Monster Energy Series.

And Busch saw some personal growth through it all.

“You definitely saw a different light of what the sport is and who you are and things like that being on the sidelines and not being able to be out there and on the race track,” Busch said of the time. “Having somebody else drive your car, being away from it all. Those are certain situations that you certainly don’t take for granted anymore. And obviously having the opportunity that I’ve had with coming back and learning from that injury and learning through those things, those personal experiences and also having my son Brexton during that time has led to some personal growth and has allowed me to be a stronger person overall. …

“I’m a bit – a bit – more understanding in some things, a bit more patient in some things,” he continued with a slight grin. “But also, it’s just, I don’t know, in other things I have a little bit better tact of being able to attack certain projects instead of just being so bull-headed or running people over or not necessarily coming off in the correct way. A lot of people have understood who I am that I’ve worked with over the years, Andy Graves, David Wilson, guys at Toyota, I’m hard on them sometimes. And they’re like ‘damn, Kyle was really hard on us today.’

“But they know the passion and they know the spirit and they know where it stems from. I think it’s just all in all a package growth of being better.”

PHOTOS: Kyle Busch through the years

NASCAR is a unique sport in that drivers – no matter how successful – lose more than they win. Those losses are motivating, Busch said. But the wins are what continues to drive him, as he looks for a second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series – and beyond.

It’s not pressure; it’s a way of life for the No. 18. He’s never known another way.

“There’s no other thing for me than being able to go out there and score the win, especially when people can pick you or think that you have the opportunity to win in every single time you’re behind the wheel of a car or the race tracks you go to,” Busch said. “We can win at any of them. You’re always the favorite, so people expect you to be out there going for the wins. So, we gotta live up to all those expectations.”

Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — As he did for much of his racing career, Stewart-Haas Racing’s Daniel Suarez forged his own path in qualifying Friday night for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (on Sunday, March 31 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). 

While his fellow competitors hesitated to make a lap, Suarez darted out onto the track alone. Ultimately, he was rewarded with a fourth-place qualifying effort at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Full starting lineup | See every car in the field

Suarez faced a similar challenging situation in NASCAR. No other Mexican driver had ascended through the top national tours to the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series—until Suarez arrived as part of the Drive for Diversity program.

As a teenager, Suarez gained experience and exposure on the short tracks of Mexico. At 19, he added the NASCAR K&N Pro Series to his schedule. Visits to Richmond Raceway, Iowa Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway prepared him for that next leap, but Suarez still lacked that mentor he could rely on to avoid the pitfalls of aspiring racers.

“I watched Adrian Fernandez a lot,” Suarez said of the 54-year-old Mexico City racer who ran 10 Xfinity Series races between 2005-2008. “But when I came here to the U.S., I didn’t have anyone from Mexico or Latin America that I could go to to ask a question.”

Now, Suarez serves as a role model for other aspiring Hispanic racers.

“Today, there are a handful of kids that call me from Mexico that want to come here and are asking for my advice,” Suarez added. “Slowly, I am becoming ‘that guy’ for a lot of kids in Mexico. I’m very proud to be able to help them and try to be that person that I didn’t have when I was coming here.”

RELATED: Driver swap kicks off NASCAR’s international schedule

This year, Suarez has found a new home with Stewart-Haas Racing. He’s experiencing a level of comfort with crew chief Billy Scott and the No. 41 SHR Ford Mustang team that was missing in his meteoric rise to Cup. Last weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Suarez posted his second top-10 finish of the season. Plus, his fourth-place qualifying run last night was his best since joining the team.

“I’m happier,” Suarez said. “It’s always good to be with a group of guys like this. Last year, I wasn’t happy. It was just a little bit different and this year I’m more relaxed and just hoping to do my thing and I feel like we have more speed. Last year, there was a lot of inconsistency. Right now, I feel like we’re consistent and moving in the right direction. 

“Last year was different, but for sure I’m more happy and more relaxed. My team, Billy Scott is a great crew chief. I have great engineers and a lot of good people behind me and I feel like we’re gonna do great things together. We just have to be patient and try to keep working in the direction we’re going so far.  I don’t feel like we are where we want to be yet, but we have to be patient.”

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SOUTH BOSTON, Va. — One last restart was all Ron Silk needed.

The Norwalk, Connecticut, driver lined up to the inside of Burt Myers with 18 laps to go in the South Boston 150 at South Boston Speedway, and the veteran took advantage of his opportunity to get back to the top.

Silk captured his first NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour win since May of 2016 by taking down the checkered flag in the second race of the season. It was the 11th career win for the 2011 series champion, and his first in his first start at the Virginia oval.

RACING-REFERENCE: South Boston 150 Race Results

“It’s always good to win,” Silk said. “Last year, we had some good finishes, and the guys have been working hard and building towards this. Hopefully we can keep being competitive going forward.”

Silk started third, and although he ran at the front of the pack for much of the early stint, pitting for tires put him back in traffic, forcing him to slice his way back to the front.

He passed Kyle Bonsignore for second, and was starting to run down Myers for the lead, but a caution with 24 laps to go set him up in perfect position to make a move on Myers, who hadn’t pitted for tires. He drove the No. 85 Stuart’s Automotive Chevrolet to the point and never looked back.

“I got a good launch and tried to the hook the bottom through turns one and two to keep up the speed,” Silk said. “I was really loose on the first run, but I knew once we pitted and changed tires we would be in pretty good shape.”

Chase Dowling, who made his first start of the season driving for veteran Jamie Tomaino, moved around Myers on the late restart, but couldn’t chase down Silk. The second place effort for the Roxbury, Connecticut, driver was his fifth career runner up finish.

“We spent time this winter putting the car together, and obviously we are really happy with it,” Dowling said. “We unloaded fast and just tweaked throughout the day.”

Jimmy Blewett finished third, scoring his second podium in two races, and positioning himself second, just one point off Doug Coby in the series points standings. Kyle Bonsignore was fourth and Myers finished fifth.

Chris Pasteryak was sixth, followed by Patrick Emerling, Doug Coby, Timmy Solomito and Craig Lutz.

The South Boston 150 will air on NBCSN on Wednesday, April 3, at 4 p.m.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour returns to the track on April 7 as part of the 45th annual Icebreaker weekend at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park.

Ron Silk, driver of the #85 Stuarts Automotive Chevrolet, wins the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour South Boston 150 on March 30, 2019 at South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia.

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Denny Hamlin registered the fastest lap in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, leading an eventful final tune-up for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Hamlin pushed the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best speed of 186.987 mph on the 1.5-mile track. The 50-minute session was Saturday’s only on-track time for the Monster Energy Series after an earlier practice was canceled by rain. The session was punctuated by a frantic final 10 minutes with close-quarters racing.

RELATED: Final practice results | 10-lap averages | Full Texas schedule

Defending race winner Kyle Busch logged the second-fastest speed to complete a 1-2 sweep by Joe Gibbs Racing, hustling the No. 18 Toyota to a 186.342 mph lap. Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch and pole-starter Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top five in the final prep ahead of Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Johnson, a seven-time Texas winner, was fastest in the consecutive 10-lap averages category in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet. The seven-time series champ swept all three rounds of Friday’s qualifying to claim the Busch Pole for Sunday’s main event. He was also fastest in Friday’s opening practice.

Erik Jones posted the 11th-fastest lap but had 15 minutes deducted from his practice time after inspection issues Friday for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. The team failed pre-qualifying inspection twice, resulting in a time penalty for final practice and the ejection of the team’s car chief.

The practice session was slowed just three minutes in as safety officials checked for leaked fluid on the backstraight.

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Kyle Busch has eyed Greg Biffle as a potential driver for his Kyle Busch Motorsports organization for years.

When Biffle stepped away from a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series ride in 2016, Busch approached his longtime friend with an idea: a full-time ride in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

RELATED: Biffle back in action | Full schedule for Texas

“I asked him, ‘Hey, if we could put something together for a full-time Truck gig, would you do it?’ And he was like, ‘I’m going to step away for a bit, I don’t think I’m ready for that yet,’ ” Busch told NASCAR.com on Friday. “(A) couple years have gone by and now he’s asking me, ‘Can I run a Truck race or something like that, do you have anything available for me?’

“He wanted to run Las Vegas in the spring and I’m like, ‘Man, I already got that one, I’m running that triple, but I do have a race available for you.’ ”

The available race ended up being Texas Motor Speedway’s June 7 event, which Biffle announced via Twitter on March 27 that he would pilot the KBM truck for a one-off run. The 49-year-old driver also practiced in Busch’s No. 51 Toyota in Friday’s Gander Trucks practice in the Lone Star State.

According to Busch, though, Texas’ warm, late-spring event wasn’t Biffle’s first choice.

“He’s like, ‘Texas in June? Ah, that’s going to be hot. I don’t know if I want to do that,’ ” Busch said with a smile. “I’m like, ‘Don’t be a pansy, come on, get it.’ ”

MORE: 2019 Gander Trucks schedule

While Busch would love to have his friend run for Kyle Busch Motorsports in a larger capacity, he doesn’t envision Biffle going down that path.

“I don’t necessarily think of him and I don’t know that he really wants to do what the (Ron) Hornaday-type thing was or the (Mike) Skinner-type thing was, which they went back to the (Gander Outdoors) Truck Series, ran the Truck Series races before they were done and kind of walked away from NASCAR entirely,” Busch said.

“If that’s what he wants to do, I’d be happy to have him in our fold at Kyle Busch Motorsports and that’d be a fun gig to have.”

Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch continued his winning ways out west.

Busch held off Stewart Friesen by 1.269-seconds for his fourth-consecutive NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series victory of the season and his fourth-career win at Texas Motor Speedway.

RELATED: Race results

Busch led a race-high 97 laps in the Vankor 350 en route to his 55th career series win and his 202nd among NASCAR’s top three national series.

“Those guys were able to keep up with us just way too much throughout the night,” Busch said. “You know, it’s a better race that way when they’re able to keep up. That means we need to go to work and work harder in order to get ourselves faster.”

Johnny Sauter, Grant Enfinger, Matt Crafton, Tyler Ankrum, Ross Chastain, Tyler Dippel, Brennan Poole and Ben Rhodes rounded out the top 10 finishers. The race was slowed by 10 cautions—tying the series track record.

Enfinger led the field to green. Stage 1 was slowed by four cautions the first involving Todd Gilliland, Chastain and Brennan Poole coming out of Turn 4 on Lap 3. Gilliland slid through the front stretch grass but continued on.

Harrison Burton, who started 10th, spun into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 11.

“I got loose on corner entry and just lost it,” said Burton, who finished 31st. “Happy I’m ok. Happy I’ve got a good team behind me.

WATCH: Burton spins, wrecks

Angela Ruch and Gus Dean triggered the third caution in Turn 2 on Lap 18. Dean’s damage was too much to overcome. He wrecked again on Lap 26 and called it a night.

Enfinger won his first stage of the season. He beat ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes to the line by .034-seconds. However, a pit road penalty mired Enfinger in the back of the pack and he spent the next two stages working his way forward.

“This was our first normal race of the season,” Enfinger told the No. 98 ThorSport team following his third top-five finish of the season. “Let’s keep doing this and the wins will come.”

Busch inherited the lead to start Stage 2 on Lap 42. Six laps later, Anthony Alfredo, who restarted sixth, lost control of his truck following contact with Stewart Friesen entering Turn 1. The No. 54 truck hit the wall and erupted into flames. NASCAR red-flagged the race for 15:51. Busch remained on the point with Crafton, Chastain, Bubba Wallace and Brett Moffitt in tow for the Lap 57 restart. Busch held on for his sixth stage win in 2019.

With a fuel-only pit stop, Sauter took the lead out of the pits on Lap 75. He quickly faded allowing Busch to regain the lead followed by Moffitt. Moffitt barreled past Busch on the outside exiting Turn 2 on Lap 99 with Rhodes, Friesen and Enfinger in pursuit. Four laps later, Korbin Forrister spun in Turn 2 to ignite the ninth caution.

Busch held the lead through the 10th and final caution on Lap 116. Friesen, who started from the rear after an engine change, battled Busch on the final restart. Although it took Friesen 10 laps to lead one circuit, his time at the point was short-lived. He would settle for second—the fifth runner-up result of his career.

“The last couple of laps were just mad,” Friesen said after his best finish of the year. “We were just tight. I just got loose underneath him. He gave me some room. Originally, I thought he was right there on my quarter. But he was doing what he had to do. After that, I was just tight. Proud of my guys. Proud of Halmar. Man, just a bummer. I thought we could have got him if we had got cleared.”

With 21 laps to go, Moffitt made contact with Rhodes battling for fourth, causing his left rear tire to go flat. Although Moffitt kept the No. 24 Chevrolet off the wall, he was forced to pit for tires and dropped to 19th, two laps off the pace.

“The No. 24 (Moffitt) was who I was really worried about and then something happened to him and then (Friesen) was really fast and on our tailgate the whole finish of that race until about the last five laps,” Busch said.

“I don’t know if he just got heated up or what back there. He put up a good fight and about got to me a couple times there and fortunately I was able to hold out and keep this truck up front. We just lacked a little bit of overall speed tonight and we didn’t have exactly what we wanted.”

Busch returned to the lead with 20 laps to go and held the point to the finish. Friesen leads the Gander Outdoors Truck Series standings by six points over Grant Enfinger.

RELATED: All of Kyle Busch’s national series wins

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Managing Director Jay Fabian responded strongly to Friday’s three-round group qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway, one which was marked by a lack of activity in the opening round that saw some drivers eliminated earlier than anticipated.

“We’re disappointed with what we saw,” Fabian said. “Nobody deserves to see that, our fans don’t deserve it. We’re going to take whatever steps we have to to clean it up so we don’t have this problem again. Pretty much everything’s on the table as far as what we’ll do moving forward.

“It’s certainly disappointing what happened. Moving forward, we’ll do what we have to do to make sure the fans get what they want to see.”

RELATED: Full lineup in pics

The most notable instance involved Clint Bowyer and Ryan Newman. After NASCAR officials instructed Newman to move up toward the middle of pit road in the opening round while cars were waiting on pit road, Bowyer felt he was being blocked by Newman’s No. 6 from making his lap. Bowyer, who ended up with a qualifying position of 25th, offered frustrated commentary after his elimination to FS1.

“I’m going to assume that he thought the 6 was going out to qualify,” Fabian said of Bowyer. “And he didn’t — he was just following what we told him to do. He followed the 6 car that he thought was going out to make a run, and he didn’t. He stopped, we asked him to move up. That’s what happened.

“There’s plenty of TV views that show that there was room to go by him. I’m sure he’s upset.”

RELATED: Jimmie claims Busch Pole

Fabian elaborated on his disappointment further in terms of the drivers’ inaction, citing that the No. 41 of Daniel Suarez went out and transferred to the next round twice on his own, without waiting to try and draft with another car. Suarez qualified fourth in the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

“It’s disappointing that they sit out there as long as they do,” he said. “It’s disappointing that they give reasons why they don’t go and then someone goes and they choose to not follow him. So, a lot of what they say doesn’t add up to their actions on pit road. I guess that’s the disappointing part. When you see someone roll, you would assume that somebody would follow them and they chose not to, which kind of leads you to being landlocked at the end of pit road.

” … We’ll put more thought into it and react the way we feel like we need to,” he continued. “Again, whatever we have to do to give the fans what they want to see with cars qualifying is what we’re going to have to take steps to achieve.”

MORE: NASCAR’s qualifying tweaks

Posted on by NASCAR Wire Service

FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson is back in the saddle again.

After leading first practice at Texas Motor Speedway and the first two rounds of qualifying, the seven-time champion bumped his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott from the top spot with seconds remaining in the final round with a lap at 188.890 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The Busch Pole Award is the first for Johnson in 96 races, 36th of his career and his second at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Starting lineup | Full schedule for Texas

“It’s been a long couple of years and we still have a ways to go and certainly race day is much more important than Friday,” said Johnson after earning his 36th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup pole. “We’re working so hard and I think we’re a bit guilty of trying too hard and maybe stepping outside of our comfort zone at times and putting set-ups on the car that just quite aren’t proven yet.

“With all that said, we were very aggressive coming here, changed a lot of stuff around on our mile-and-a-half program. Top of the charts all day long. It’s a great start. I’m really proud of everybody keeping the faith and working hard.”

William Byron, who crossed the line after Johnson, topped Elliott for second in time trials.

“That is just a credit to the guys really, just giving us a fast car,” Byron said. “Teamwork man. Just keeping the communication down to get that hole that we did. Just teamwork. So it’s all good. It’s awesome.”

Daniel Suarez’s strategy of making a single-car run and not relying on the draft paid off for the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. He finished fourth in Round 2 to advance to the Final Round. He’ll roll off fourth on Sunday.

“I was planning to go by myself without helping anyone, so I waited until everyone was shut off so I could go quick and they didn’t have time to re-fire and then go,” Suarez said. “That part played out well. The part that we just missed a little bit is that we were expecting them to make more mistakes or to wait a little bit longer, but they didn’t.

“It was a good effort. That was our gamble. We were out of trouble and the car was good, fast and we didn’t have to work as hard as they did that’s for sure.”

WATCH: Bowman scrapes wall

Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10.

With four minutes remaining in the first round of qualifying, Alex Bowman bounced off the wall in Turn 2. He had posted the seventh-fastest lap to advance to the next round, but was unable to continue. Bowman was seen and released from the infield care center.

“I think Alex would have been right there if he hadn’t had his problems in Round 1,” Johnson added.

Jimmie Johnson, currently on a 65-race winless streak, has won seven times at Texas Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; including once from the pole (2012).

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The No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Erik Jones failed on two attempts through the inspection line before Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Texas Motor Speedway.

As a result, NASCAR officials ejected car chief Jason Overstreet from the No. 20 team’s 12-person road crew. The team was also penalized with a 15-minute deduction of practice time, which will be enforced in Saturday’s final practice at the 1.5-mile track.

RELATED: Full schedule for Texas

After starting the season with two consecutive top-10 finishes, Jones has absorbed four straight finishes of 13th or worse. He’s set to make his sixth Texas start in this Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM).

Jones has three Texas victories in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and one in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.