Busch Bash at Delaware Speedway
By Jim Cressman, The London Free Press
Last Updated: July 13, 2011 8:13am
Fresh off the royal tour by Will and Kate to Canada, Delaware Speedway welcomes racing royalty.
Current NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch and his brother, Kurt, the 2004 series champion, are at Canada’s oldest half-mile paved oval Wednesday for the APC Summer Showdown.
The highlight is the 60-lap feature for the Busch brothers and 26 other area late-model stars.
Kyle Busch comes into Delaware after winning the inaugural Quaker State 400 before more than 107,000 fans Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway, giving him the Sprint Cup points lead.
He goes into Sunday’s Lennox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire with a four-point lead over Carl Edwards.
Kurt Busch, who won the championship the first year for the Chase for the Cup, is currently fourth in points.
“They are the best of the best,” said reigning NASCAR Canadian Tire Series champion D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas, who finished second to Kyle Busch in last year’s Delaware race after leading the first half — “He kicked my butt,” was how Kennington summed it up.
This is Kurt’s first trip to Delaware.
“These guys are both all-stars, and for them to be at Delaware is nothing but good for all of us,” Kennington said Tuesday as he was preparing his cars for Wednesday and also the next NCATS event, July 23 in Vernon, B.C.
Kennington, currently second in NCATS points, said beating Kyle Busch is tough to do at any time, but he knows the Las Vegas native will be pumped following his big win only four days ago.
“Absolutely, he’s going to be tough,” Kennington said. “He can win any time on any racetrack. But add that he’s now the points leader and the guy’s going to be primed for this.”
Kennington was impressed with how quickly Busch mastered the difficult Delaware half-mile oval last year, and expects the same from Kurt.
“I’ve never seen Kurt in anything but his Sprint Cup car and his drag car (NHRA pro-stock division), but I imagine he’ll have no trouble getting around Delaware.
“All those Sprint Cup guys are awesome. With the Nationwide races I’ve been in, we get to see the Sprint Cup practices and their first practice, the first or second lap is usually their fastest lap of the weekend and that’s right out of the box.
“To lay one down that fast that quick is phenomenal to me. That’s why they’re the best in the world and these two guys are right at the top.”
Kyle, 26, holds the record for most NASCAR wins in a season in the top-three series with 24 in 2010. He’s also the only driver to win races in two of its major series on the same day, the Camping World Truck and Nationwide races Feb. 21, 2009.
On Aug. 21, 2010, he became the first driver to win all three of NASCAR’s top three on the same weekend at Bristol, Tenn.
Kurt, who turns 33 years old next month, has championships in all three major series and this past January, under the tutelage of NHRA pro-stock driver Allen Johnson, he obtained his pro-stock competition licence, only the third driver to cross over between NASCAR and NHRA (the others are Richard Petty and John Andretti).
Kurt made his NHRA debut on March 12 and qualified. He then lost to Erica Enders by 0.004 seconds in first-round eliminations. No shame in that as Enders, 27, and from Houston, is the most prolific female driver in pro-stock history,
With his busy NASCAR schedule, Kurt is competing in NHRA events on an “opportunity permitting” basis.
Kennington, who won the NCATS Mosport road-course event and both ends of the Maple City Tire 100 at Delaware on Canada Day, said the nice thing about the Summer Showdown is there are no points at stake.
“There’s no pressure, so that makes for a fun race. Hopefully there won’t be a lot of cautions so we can get out there are do some racing.
“I know Kyle had a great time last year because when we were at the NASCAR banquet (in Las Vegas for all the series champions) some of my guys went over to his truck shop and he was there and when he found out who they were, he said how he definitely remembered Delaware and couldn’t wait to come back.
“I’m sure that’s why he’s bringing Kurt.”
E-mail jim.cressman@sunmedia.ca
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