Jeff Byrd 500 At Bristol Race Report

Bristol, March 20, 2011: O. Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc., technically own Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, but Kyle Busch has made it look like he’s the rightful owner of the .533-mile oval.

The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) led seven times for 153 laps en route to winning Sunday’s Jeff Byrd 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Bristol. It was the Las Vegas native’s 20th career Sprint Cup victory and first of 2011. Most impressive, however, was that it was his fifth straight Bristol triumph, as he won yesterday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and last August swept the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series races.

“This M&M’s Camry was awesome,” said Busch, who held off Carl Edwards by .946 of a second to score his fifth Sprint Cup win at Bristol. “Our guys won this race on that last pit stop because they got us out first. I don’t know if I could’ve gotten by Carl. Carl was good. Our car was definitely better on the longer run. Dave Rogers (crew chief) did an awesome job.”

The win came just days after primary sponsor Mars, Incorporated announced a multi-year extension of its sponsorship of Busch and JGR’s No. 18 Toyota team.

“This is a heck of a way to kick that off,” said Busch, who has now won 15 Sprint Cup races with Mars brands as his primary sponsor. “Really have to thank all the partners there, all the associates, all the people worldwide at Mars, M&M’s, Doublemint, Pedigree, Snickers and Combos. It’s an awesome partnership that will now continue for years to come. I couldn’t be happier.”

The victory also solidified Busch as the current king of Bristol. He has 11 wins in NASCAR’s top-three touring divisions (Sprint Cup – 5, Nationwide – 3, Camping World Truck – 3). He has won four of the last five Sprint Cup races at the track in northeast Tennessee, as well as the last two Nationwide Series races and the last two Camping World Truck Series events.

“It’s fun and I love coming to Bristol,” said Busch, who has led 936 of the 1,756 possible laps (53 percent) in his five-race Bristol winning streak. “There’s nothing not fun about this place. I’m sure all these fans know that, too. As soon as I can beat Darrell (Waltrip, 12 Sprint Cup wins at Bristol) for most wins here, they can name it after me. This is his right now. This is pretty cool. It’s an awesome opportunity to come to Bristol and win in front of these fans. I love it. It’s a lot of fun, especially with five in a row.

“It was a grueling day today. I didn’t feel my best, but we put it all together when it mattered most. This M&M’s Toyota Camry team did an awesome job.”

Busch now has 90 victories across NASCAR’s top-three divisions (Sprint Cup – 20; Nationwide – 45; Camping World Truck – 25). He has also won at least one Sprint Cup race a season for seven consecutive years, dating back to his first full season in 2005. Kyle and his older brother, Kurt, have combined to win 10 of the last 19 Sprint Cup races at Bristol. Interestingly, Kurt won all five of his races before Kyle scored his first Bristol victory.