Kyle Busch leads out of the fourth turn during Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at ISM Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.AVONDALE, Ariz. - Kyle Busch swept the NASCAR weekend at ISM Raceway in the Arizona desert - just as he nearly did the weekend before in Las Vegas.
Busch tracked down Ryan Blaney over a long green-flag run before passing the Team Penske driver for the lead with 16 laps to go, then made his fuel and tires last to the checkered flag to add a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday, a day after he won the Xfinity Series race at the one-mile track just outside of Phoenix.
"We were going to be right on the verge," Busch said. "You have to go hard first and worry about fuel afterwards. After I got Blaney, I was able to save a little bit and take care of my tires for the rest of the lapped traffic I had to get through."
Busch's latest big weekend gives him 199 wins on NASCAR's top three circuits, including 52 in the top-tier Cup Series. Busch, who has 94 wins in the second-tier Xfinity Series and 53 in the third-tier Truck Series, will go for the 200 milestone this coming weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Richard Petty holds the record with 200, although all of the NASCAR Hall of Famer's came in stock-car racing's top-tier series. Petty, now 81, earned his last win at the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 4, 1984.
"It's not for me to worry about. It's for everybody else to discuss and talk about and debate over," Busch said of the potential milestone's importance. "But for myself and the view I've had, I've been fortunate to be around a lot of great people and a lot of great sponsors."
Busch won Xfinity and Truck races the weekend before in his hometown, and he would have hit the 200-mark on Sunday if not for a speeding penalty that left him with a third-place finish in the Cup Series race seven days earlier at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Truck Series did not run at ISM Raceway.
Even on Sunday, Busch was still ruing what might have been.
"This makes last weekend feel so much stupider," he said. "I wish we would have swept last weekend, too, with two weekend sweeps in a row. But we'll take what we got today."
Martin Truex Jr. also got around Blaney to take second and give Joe Gibbs Racing a 1-2 finish, taking advantage of his No. 19 Toyota Camry as it kept getting better on longer runs. Blaney wound up third after starting in pole position but having to make two stops during the final caution because of a lugnut that would have come loose.
"I was kind of riding, trying to save tires, trying to save gas," said Blaney, who opted for two tires and track position on his final stop. "I think (Busch) was kind of riding back there, too. He knew what situation I was in. I started to get real tight, and we got to lapped cars and I was done."
Still, it was a momentum-building result for Blaney, who had watched Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski reach victory lane the past two weeks. Blaney had been outside the top 20 in each of his first three races this season.
"It definitely was a good weekend after the start of the year we had," Blaney said. "A good day, the day we needed. We've been poised to have days like this and contend for wins, and it just hasn't happened this year. This is what we deserve."
Stewart-Haas Racing's Aric Almirola was fourth and JGR's Denny Hamlin fifth, with his car also performing better on long green-flag runs. Kyle Larson drove to sixth from the back of the field after failing to get his money lap in during qualifying before time expired, while Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kurt Busch and Hendrick Motorsports veteran Jimmie Johnson also had strong runs.
"If you can't win, it's just about maximizing your day, and we were really close on fuel," Almirola said. "I didn't want to run out and finish 20th."
Team Penske's success continues as IndyCar season opens
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Team Penske's hot start to the motorsports year continued Sunday with Josef Newgarden's victory in the IndyCar season opener - the fourth win for a Penske car in seven days spanning three series.
Newgarden crossed the finish line on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg at almost the exact same time Ryan Blaney, another Penske driver, led the field to the green flag in the NASCAR Cup Series race outside Phoenix.
Blaney wound up third, but Team Penske had already won consecutive Cup Series races with Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano to lock both into the playoffs, two Supercars races in Australia in the new Ford Mustang and now one of the showcase events on the IndyCar schedule.
The organization is off to such a strong start that team owner Roger Penske acknowledged his three-driver IndyCar lineup arrived at the opening race feeling pressure to match their counterparts. Will Power and Newgarden delivered in qualifying by sweeping the front row, and then Newgarden's crew used tire strategy to put his Chevrolet out front.
"So proud of our group - we have the best of the best working for Team Penske," Newgarden said. "There's a lot of pressure at Team Penske, everybody is rising up and we joined the group today."
It was the 204th IndyCar win for a Penske driver.
"To come out here and have a pole with Will, sweep the front row and win the race with Josef is a great way to start our season on the IndyCar side with Chevrolet," Penske said. "Next week, we will be at Sebring and try to get our Acura Team Penske program in victory lane in the historic 12 hours race.
"But we need to keep looking out the windshield. The competition in all these series is strong, and they will keep improving. So we need to keep pushing. There is a long season ahead of us."
Scott Dixon finished second in a Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing but was stymied by lapped traffic in his bid to catch Newgarden. Power finished third.
Felix Rosenqvist was the breakout star of the race by finishing fourth in his IndyCar debut. The Ganassi rookie from Sweden led 31 laps and used a strong pass on Power on a restart to move to the front. He was taken out of contention for the victory during pit stops and just missed a podium finish in his debut.
Alexander Rossi was fifth for Andretti Autosport, James Hinchcliffe took sixth for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and Simon Pagenaud, the third driver in the Penske lineup, was seventh. Colton Herta finished eighth as the 18-year-old debuted for Harding Steinbrenner Racing.