Kyle Busch A Winner Riding Along at Watkins Glen

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In: NASCAR Cup Series News

After capturing his sixth win of the season Sunday at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Kyle Busch now has 49 career victories in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Even before he gets to this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, he’ll already have a winner riding along on his No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR).

 

After the return of its popular Flavor Vote campaign this spring, the M&M’S brand announced that Crunchy Mint was the winner of the promotion, topping Crunchy Espresso and Crunchy Raspberry to not only win the Flavor Vote title but, beginning this month, join the M&M’S lineup and continue to be sold at stores nationwide for an 18-month period, while supplies last.

 

All three flavors from the campaign rode along with Busch into victory lane back in April as the Flavor Vote car was victorious at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.  Fresh off its newly announced victory, M&M’S Crunchy Mint gets to ride along with Busch on the Watkins Glen road course for Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen in hopes of the flavor’s first solo trip to victory lane.

 

Busch and his No. 18 M&M’S Crunchy Mint Toyota head to Upstate New York for the second and final true road-course race of the NASCAR Cup Series season as he looks to keep his summer hot streak going when the series visits Watkins Glen. If the 2015 Cup Series champion were to grab another checkered flag in Sunday’s Go Bowling at The Glen, he could also join some elite company as a road-racing ace in NASCAR’s top series.

 

Busch is tied with David Pearson and Mark Martin with four Cup Series road-course wins apiece. That’s some pretty good company, already. But with a fifth road-course win, he could tie Darrell Waltrip, Tim Richmond and Dan Gurney on the road-course win list. There is a bit of distance to the top two spots on the all-time road-course wins list, however, as second-place Jeff Gordon has seven wins and leader Tony Stewart has nine.

 

Busch scored his fourth career Cup Series road-course win in June 2015 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, and he heads to Watkins Glen with an impressive 11 top-10 finishes in his 13 career starts at The Glen, which includes two victories. Add an average finish of 9.8, along with his 216 laps led, and Busch’s record is quite dazzling at the site of Sunday’s race.

 

After Busch’s inaugural Cup Series victory at The Glen in 2008, he nearly won for the second time on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn circuit in his 2011 and 2012 visits there before breaking through again in 2013 with another victory in New York’s scenic Finger Lakes region. A third victory Sunday at The Glen would continue to solidify Busch and the M&M’S Crunchy Mint team as the favorite each time the series comes to town.

 

Busch looks to add to the record books in another way starting Sunday, as well. With his Pocono win last weekend, Busch is now tied with former JGR teammate Stewart for 13th on the all-time Cup Series win list, which is some impressive company. The next win would tie NASCAR Hall of Famers Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett, who both won 50 races in NASCAR’s top series during their storied careers.

 

So as Busch heads to Upstate New York for some road racing this weekend, he would like to accomplish a few things – add another victory to win column for the M&M’S Crunchy mint flavor, while also adding to the record books as one of NASCAR’s best road-course racers and continue climbing the ladder on the all-time overall win list. Seems like a win-win for all involved.

 

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