Kyle Busch wins seventh career Nationwide race at Bristol, record 16th triumph there overall

By Mar 15, 2014, 4:27 PM EDT
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Its official name is Bristol Motor Speedway, but the .533-mile bullring might as well be renamed Busch Motor Speedway going forward.

In his 20th NASCAR Nationwide Series start at BMS, Kyle Busch earned his seventh win – his third in a row and sixth in his last eight NNS starts there – in Saturday’s Drive to Stop Diabetes 300.

Busch now has a record 16 career wins at Bristol across all three of NASCAR’s major series — Nationwide (seven wins), Sprint Cup (five) and Camping World Trucks (four) — the most total race wins by a driver at a single track in NASCAR history.

Busch led 119 laps and easily cruised to victory, finishing 1.441 seconds ahead of runnerup Kyle Larson.

Busch pulled away from the pack following the final restart with nine laps remaining in the event, but no one could mount a serious challenge as each lap clicked off.

“We really had to change our car a lot today,” Busch said. “This car was awesome. A couple of those guys got close. (Matt) Kenseth was really fast, lightning fast much of the day, and I was having a hard time catching him. I just bided my time a little bit better than he did, and he got stuck.

“It’s always fun to win at Bristol. It doesn’t matter whether they’re cheering or booing. Hopefully, we can sweep the weekend. … What we accomplished today was pretty good.”

Only three drivers led the race: Matt Kenseth led the most (179), Busch (119) and Larson (two).

But seven Nationwide wins is only scratching the surface of just how dominant the younger Busch brother continues to be at Bristol, without question his most successful race track across all three of NASCAR’s professional touring series. In addition to his seven NNS wins, he also has 13 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes at Bristol in NASCAR’s junior circuit.

In the Camping World Trucks Series, Busch has eight starts, four wins, five top-5 and six top-10 finishes at Bristol.

And come Sunday in the weekend’s main event, the Food City 500, Busch will be going for his sixth Sprint Cup win in 19 starts. He also has eight top-five and 12 top-10 Cup finishes in NASCAR’s premier series at Bristol.

Kevin Harvick finished third in Saturday’s race, followed by Ryan Blaney and Kenseth. Sixth through 10th were Ty Dillon, Brendon Gaughan, Trevor Bayne, Chase Elliott and Regan Smith.

Smith barely held on to his points lead in the NNS standings. He leads Trevor Bayne by one point, is eight points ahead of Ty Dillon, 13 points in front of Chase Elliott and 16 points ahead of Elliott Sadler.

Also of note in Saturday’s race, rookie Cale Conley finished an impressive 11th in his first career NNS start.

Drivers Ryan Reed and 18-year-old Ruben Garcia Jr. (making his second career NNS start), wrecked out in the latter stages of the race.

Here’s the finishing order in Saturday’s Drive to Stop Diabetes 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway:

1 Kyle Busch
2 Kyle Larson
3 Kevin Harvick
4 Ryan Blaney
5 Matt Kenseth
6 Ty Dillon
7 Brendan Gaughan
8 Trevor Bayne
9 Chase Elliott
10 Regan Smith
11 Cale Conley
12 Landon Cassill
13 James Buescher
14 Brian Scott
15 Dylan Kwasniewski
16 Chris Buescher
17 Elliott Sadler
18 Jeremy Clements
19 Joe Nemechek
20 Ryan Sieg
21 Timmy Hill
22 Will Kimmel III
23 Jamie Dick
24 Dakoda Armstrong
25 Mike Wallace
26 Mike Bliss
27 Eric McClure
28 Derrike Cope
29 Joey Gase
30 Josh Wise
31 Ryan Reed
32 Jeffrey Earnhardt
33 Ruben Garcia Jr.
34 Kevin Lepage
35 Kelly Admiraal
36 Tanner Berryhill
37 Matt Carter
38 Carl Long
39 Matt DiBenedetto
40 Blake Koch

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With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”