RICHMOND, Va. — Kyle Busch planned to open the bulk of his birthday presents when he returned home from Richmond International Raceway.
“What do you get a guy who has everything or buys anything he wants?” he wondered.
How about a trip to Victory Lane? Busch became just the second driver in NASCAR history to win a Cup race on his birthday, celebrating his 24th on Saturday night at Richmond.
“It was a good birthday, for sure,” Busch said. “This is the best present. It’s cool.”
Cale Yarborough is the only other driver to accomplish the feat — twice — celebrating his March 27 birthday with wins at North Wilkesoboro in 1977 and Atlanta in 1983.
“How old was he?” Busch asked, a hint of cockiness in his voice. He then smiled with a slight sense of satisfaction when he learned Yarborough was 38 when he won his first race on his birthday.
The young driver has 50 wins spanning NASCAR’s top three series.
But he had rolled into Richmond on an uncharacteristically long losing streak — his last win was Week 5 at Bristol. He broke the slump in style, though, with three wins on the weekend starting with a victory in teammate Denny Hamlin’s charity race Thursday night at Southside Speedway. He then won Friday night’s Nationwide Series race at RIR.
“It’s an awesome win for us,” said Busch, who celebrated with his trademark sarcastic bow to the booing crowd, then later swan-dived into the arms of his Joe Gibbs Racing crew. “It’s really exciting to win on my birthday and to have my team guys enjoy it as much as I do. We struggled for four weeks. It’s been a struggle for us — we haven’t finished where we want to. We made it happen here.”
Lucas leads in top fuel
MADISON, Ill. — Morgan Lucas took the top spot in top fuel qualifying Saturday at the O’Reilly Midwest Nationals.
Two qualifying rounds were held after rain wiped out qualifying for all classes except for pro stock motorcycle Friday.
Ron Capps (funny car), Greg Stanfield (pro stock) and Andrew Hines (pro stock motorcycle) also topped their divisions.
The Associated Press
Today’s race
NHRA O’Reilly Midwest Nationals
Site: Madison, Ill.
TV: ESPN2, 1 p.m.
Track: Gateway International Raceway
Next event: NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, May 15-17, Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tenn.
On the Net:
Sprint Cup standings
1. Kurt Busch, 1,299 points
2. Jeff Gordon, 1,294
3. Jimmie Johnson, 1,235
4. Tony Stewart, 1,232
5. Denny Hamlin, 1,190
6. Kyle Busch, 1,124
7. Carl Edwards, 1,119
8. Clint Bowyer, 1,098
9. Jeff Burton, 1,092
10. Greg Biffle, 1,081
11. David Reutimann, 1,077
12. Matt Kenseth, 1,063
13. Ryan Newman, 1,033
14. Kasey Kahne, 1,030
15. Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1,018
(tie) J. Montoya, 1,018
17. Brian Vickers, 995
18. Mark Martin, 971
19. Marcos Ambrose, 937
20. Kevin Harvick, 918
