It’s almost time for Halloween and, for Kyle Busch, there are memories of a time when not many things were spookier than having to make one of his semiannual visits to Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
That’s because, before a three-race stretch starting in the fall of 2009, the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver who will sport a special M&M’s Halloween Fun Size paint scheme for Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 never finished better than 24th in a JGR car at the .526-mile paperclip-shaped oval.
Of the 23 venues that will host Sprint Cup events in 2014, Busch has won at least once at 20 of those venues in at least one of NASCAR’s top three divisions – Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck. There are only three current Sprint Cup tracks – Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Martinsville – where Busch has not scored a victory in any of NASCAR’s top three series.
Despite the lack of a Martinsville grandfather clock in his trophy case, Busch has plenty of reasons for optimism this weekend, especially considering how he has been able to pick up his game at Martinsville starting in 2009.
Busch finally busted through the 24th-place barrier at NASCAR’s shortest oval with a solid fourth-place finish in the fall of 2009 and, after that, Busch started posting strong finishes at Martinsville beginning with another fourth-place run in October of that year. In his April 2011 trip to the tricky Virginia short track, Busch led a race-high 151 laps before scoring his career-best Martinsville finish of third. And, in October 2011, he led another race-high 126 laps before being collected in an accident not of his own doing late in the race. Add his new career-best Martinsville finish of second in October 2012 and a fifth in April 2013 and it seems that Busch has found his groove at the tricky paperclip-shaped short track.
Indeed, Busch feels like the M&M’s team keeps getting closer and closer to that elusive win at Martinsville with each return. Even though there is still a blank in the win column, Busch’s Martinsville resume now includes eight top-five finishes and nine top-10s in his 19 Sprint Cup starts there.
Last week’s elimination race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway had a bag full of tricks for Busch and the M&M’s team after they were collected in a midrace accident not of their own doing. The 40th-place result was not good enough to advance Busch to the Chase Eliminator round. However, Busch and team can still climb as high as fifth in the final standings, so the focus will be on the best points finish possible, with the hope of another win before the season is finished.
As the Sprint Cup Series returns to Martinsville for another Halloween weekend celebration, will it mean a trick, or a treat, for Busch this Sunday? Despite the lack of a win there, Busch has reason to believe it might finally be time to grab the ultimate treat at Martinsville – his first grandfather clock – as the season hits the homestretch for the final four races of the season.
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