NASCAR: Kyle Busch scores 200th national series victory

Kyle Busch scores his 200th NASCAR national series victory by winning Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway. Interestingly, he catches his 200th win at the same track where he clinched his first career Monster Energy Series victory in 2005.

The victory number 200 equaled Kyle Busch with Richard Petty, who won 200 races in NASCAR’s premier series. Petty has all wins in the Cup Series while Kyle Busch collected 53 wins in the Cup Series, 94 wins in the Xfinity Series and 53 wins in the Truck Series.

“I think the original goal was just to get to NASCAR and then once I got here, it was to win a race. Once it was winning a race then it was about trying to sustain and being able to be a winner here and to be a champion here. To have the opportunities to continue down the line to be able to be successful each, and every year and we’ve been doing that. We’ve only won one title, but certainly I feel like I have the best team out there right now and we just have to be able to do it all year long,” Kyle Busch said.

The victory at Auto Club Speedway for the driver of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota came after he was in the lead for 134 of 200 laps at the 2-mile track, recovering from pit road speeding penalty. At the finish line, Busch beat runner-up Joey Logano by a comfortable 2.354 seconds.Brad Keselowski finished third, followed by Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney, as Ford drivers grabbed the next four positions behind Busch’s Toyota. Sixth-placed Kurt Busch, brother of the race winner, drove the highest-finishing Chevrolet.

The next race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, scheduled for March 17.