Every year in late April across the United States, signs of spring begin to appear all around. Flowers and trees start to come into bloom, the grass begins to grow, the weather becomes warmer – and, of course, Kyle Busch posts a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.
The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) returns to Richmond for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 looking for his fifth consecutive spring event win at the .75-mile oval. Last April, the Las Vegas native brought home his fourth straight spring victory at Richmond to go with four runner-up finishes and an amazing 12 top-fives in just 16 career Sprint Cup starts in Virginia’s capital city.
Busch’s average finishing position of just 5.4 is tops among all active drivers at Richmond, including JGR teammate Denny Hamlin, whose average finish there is 8.1. Busch has completed all but one of the 6,410 laps available to him in his 16 career Richmond starts. Of those laps completed, Busch has run in the top-15 for 6,607 (87.5 percent) of them – second-most among active drivers at the track.
While he has always had strong runs at Richmond since joining the Sprint Cup ranks in 2005, Busch’s first Sprint Cup victory didn’t come until May 2009, when he became only the second driver in Sprint Cup history to celebrate a victory on his birthday, a feat first accomplished by Cale Yarborough, who did it twice. Yarborough won on his March 27 birthday at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in 1977 and at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1983. Since his first Richmond victory in 2009, Busch has finished out of the top-five just once, coming home fifth, second, sixth, and 16th, respectively, in the fall races the past four seasons after winning the spring race each year.
While his May 2 birthday isn’t until five days later this year, the soon-to-be 28-year-old would like nothing more than to add another Richmond win to his resume and celebrate his birthday a little early in victory lane Saturday night in the “Capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia” – and, yes, continue this very special rite of spring.
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