CONCORD, N.C. — OK, I’ll admit it. It was difficult to accept the fanfare and hoopla that followed Kyle Busch’s 200th NASCAR national series victory.
Don’t all the whippersnappers know Richard Petty is “The King?” Most of his 200 victories came before every NASCAR race was televised, or before the sanctioning body had three national tours. They all came before Busch was born on May 2, 1985.
Petty won his 200th NASCAR Cup Series race on July 4, 1984, at Daytona Int’l Speedway with President Ronald Reagan in attendance. He never won again and retired at the end of the 1992 season.
Busch picked up victory No. 200 at California’s Auto Club Speedway on St. Patrick’s Day. It was his 53rd Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win.
The Las Vegas native grabbed victory No. 201 six days later at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, when he earned his third Gander Outdoors Truck Series triumph of the season.
Busch also owns 94 NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphs and has won another 54 times in the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.
Petty was the first true superstar in NASCAR racing. He won a lot, but he did it with class. Even fans of other drivers were happy when Petty and his trademark cowboy hat and boots visited victory lane. He was easy to like, well, easy to love is probably more appropriate.
Old fogies like us like to say Petty won his races all in a single series, and he did most of it during a time when the series was running 60 to 70 races a season.
But when one looks closer at the statistics during that time period, it’s easy to see that many of the fields Petty outran weren’t all that strong. With the series covering so much ground and racing so frequently during the 1960s, very few competitors contested the full schedule. Even fewer had the type of equipment Petty Enterprises put on the track.
Petty won his 200 races in 1,184 starts. However, 241 of those races came after his 200th victory.
Busch, on the other hand, is brash, aggressive and annoying. And he wins a lot, so much so this reporter doesn’t watch Xfinity Series or Truck Series races in which he competes. There’s no point. That’s not Busch’s fault. He’s incredibly talented and his Joe Gibbs Racing cars are the best in the business. But the combination facing off against lesser funded teams and lesser talented drivers in the Xfinity and Truck Series is a mismatch. That’s just the way it is.
Busch, who is 33 years old, got an early start. He made his first NASCAR national series start in the trucks at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 2001. His first victory came in the Xfinity Series on March 14, 2004.
Ironically, Busch’s first Cup Series victory came at Auto Club Speedway during his stint with Hendrick Motorsports in 2005.
Of Busch’s 200 victories, 179 have come behind the wheel of a Toyota-powered vehicle and 131 of those were attained with Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s also won races for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Billy Ballew Motorsports, Hendrick Motorsports and Todd Braun.
Many of his Xfinity and Truck Series triumphs came prior to NASCAR placing limitations on the participation of Cup Series regulars in the two junior circuits. Those were implemented before the start of the 2016 season.
Interestingly, few, including Busch, were comparing the two. Petty was the best driver of his era, and there’s little disputing Busch is the best of his time — with more than a few good years still ahead of him.
As Busch celebrated by waving a flag adorned with the No. 200 in the infield at Auto Club Speedway, there was no disputing why it was a milestone victory for Busch — and for NASCAR. It was because Richard Petty set the standard.
That’s a term that doesn’t need a number.