Busches are on a roll

Published 7:54 pm Friday, June 4, 2010

Kurt Busch had a nice couple of weeks in the Queen City of Charlotte. After taking home a nifty $1 million paycheck from winning the All-Star Race, Busch followed up with a win in the Coca-Cola 600 last Sunday night.

With that win, Busch moved up three spots to land in sixth position in the points standings. Kurt’s younger brother, Kyle, finished third last week and held on to his second place spot in the points.

There are few drivers hotter than the Busch brothers right now. With four wins between them, all coming in the last 10 races, there is no doubt that both will make the Chase for the Sprint Cup and that both will compete heavily for the championship.

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That brings up a good question—what brother combination has been the most successful in Sprint Cup racing? In their short careers, Kurt has been racing 11 years and Kyle seven; the Buschs have combined to win 40 races. Kurt has won 22 races, and a championship in 2004, while Kyle has won 18 races.

The Texas duo of Terry and Bobby Labonte has won a combined 43 races, three more than the Busch brothers, but that total is over a combined 51 years of racing. And chances are that neither will add to that win total now that Terry is all but retired and Bobby Labonte is struggling just to stay on the track with a lower-tier team.

The Wallace family—Rusty, Steve, and Kenny—have a long history in NASCAR and 55 combined Sprint Cup wins. Big brother Rusty can take credit for all 55 of those wins and a championship. The two younger siblings have primarily made their mark in the Nationwide series.

But the top brother duo, in terms of wins, in Sprint Cup racing is the Allison brothers, Bobby and Donnie. Over a combined 45 years of racing, the brothers from Hueytown, Ala., won 94 races. Of those, brother Donnie won 10 races and Bobby won 84, the third most in the history of NASCAR.

Considering their ages, Kurt and Kyle Busch will no doubt surpass all of the aforementioned combinations. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see the two Busch brothers battling each other this year for the championship.

Kevin Harvick remains atop the leader board with Kyle Busch second, Matt Kenseth third, Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin in fourth and fifth.

A first will occur this weekend at Pocono, Pa., the site of this week’s race. For the first time, a title sponsor will take the name of the race in Pocono. For years, both races here were unsponsored, simply known as the Pocono 500. This week’s race is the Gillette Fusion Glide 500. Just a sign of the times.

Look for Joe Gibbs Racing to continue its solid performances, with Joey Logano picking up his second career win this weekend.