Maybe some home cooking will be the cure for what’s ailed the Busch brothers early on this NASCAR Sprint Cup season.
Younger bro Kyle and older bro Kurt find themselves sitting 14th and 30th respectively in the standings, with the latter coming off a DNF last Sunday at Phoenix due to a blown engine.
But the Las Vegas natives will have a chance to right their respective ships in front of their home fans this weekend at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kyle has had a greater degree of success at LVMS over the course of his Sprint Cup career. He won there in 2009 and has four Top-5s and five Top-10s in 10 overall starts.
Kurt, on the other hand, hasn’t had a lot of good results with no wins and just one Top-5 in 13 overall starts, a third-place showing in 2005 for Roush Fenway Racing. In his last 8 LVMS appearances, his best finish has been a ninth-place result from 2010 with Team Penske.
The Busch brothers aren’t the only hometown racers this weekend, though. Brendan Gaughan and rookie Dylan Kwasniewski, both Vegas natives as well, will race against Kyle in the 300-mile Nationwide Series undercard on Saturday.
Gaughan, driving for Richard Childress Racing, will be making his fourth Nationwide start at LVMS. He hasn’t fared badly there with past NNS finishes of seventh (2009), 13th (2010) and fifth (2012). Additionally, he has two Cup starts and 13 Camping World Truck Series starts at LVMS to his credit.
As for the 18-year-old Kwasniewski, he’ll be making his NNS debut at LVMS. However, he competed regularly at the track’s nearby .375-mile “Bullring” while making his way up the ranks. He earned back-to-back runner-up finishes on the Bullring in 2011 and 2012 in K&N Pro Series West events.
