NASCAR Cup Series

Get out the broom? Kyle Busch aims for rare weekend sweep

Published May. 31, 2014 10:37 a.m. ET

Tom Jensen

Two down, one to go for Kyle Busch.

Having already crushed the field in Friday's Lucas Oil 200 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Dover International Speedway and then again in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Busch is in hot pursuit of another triple.

Busch has done it already, at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2010, when he became the first driver in NASCAR history to sweep NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series races at one track on the same weekend.

So far this weekend at the Monster Mile, Busch looks stout.

On Friday at Dover, he qualified his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota Camry on the outside of Row 1 for Sunday's FedEx 400 benefitting Autism Speaks Sprint Cup race.

In Nationwide practice, Busch was fifth during Happy Hour. Then he went out and clobbered the field in Saturday afternoon's Nationwide race.

And the scary thing? His Sprint Cup car looks really fast, too.

"Our car was really fast in practice and really liked it there but just wasn't able to quite get the speed we wanted there in qualifying," Busch said after Cup qualifying. "I don't think anybody really did. I think everybody kind of slowed down. Overall we slowed down a little more than most I guess. I don't know. But, just didn't quite get enough there that last run and come up short."

Certainly, completing the triple again will be a daunting task for Busch, but his track record at the one-mile concrete Dover oval is exceptional. He has won nine races in NASCAR's top three divisions here and on the Cup side, he has finished seventh or better seven times in the last eight races. In his last three Dover Cup starts alone, Busch has led 482 laps.

"I've been very successful in all three series at Dover, so this spring race is one that I look at as a possible triple-win weekend," said Busch earlier this week. "The concrete surface is very slick and some drivers don't like the concrete feel one bit, while other drivers like it. For me, I enjoy going to Dover and Bristol. They are fun places to race because they are challenging and other drivers don't necessarily get it. The race tracks are slick and having the right mindset going into those races can give you an advantage over the guys that aren't looking forward to racing there."

Busch's toughest competition for the final two races of the weekend figures to come from Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports. Joey Logano, a former teammate of Busch's at JGR, has won four straight Nationwide races at Dover, while Jimmie Johnson has a record eight Cup victories here. Logano's current teammate, Brad Keselowski, will start Sunday's Cup race from the pole.