Kyle Busch pulls away to win in LVMS Bullring return
It was like riding a bicycle for Kyle Busch.
Many years ago he learned how to do it. Apparently, he hasn’t forgotten how.
The two-time and reigning NASCAR champion from Las Vegas returned to his roots Thursday night and won a 100-lap late model race at the Las Vegas Bullring on which he cut his racing eyeteeth, a prelude to Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 at the LVMS 1.5-mile oval across the parking lot.
Busch nudged past Derek Thorn — the man he predicted would be the one to beat — coming out of Turn 2 on lap 65 to take the lead and then drove away from the California racer after a late restart as a crowd estimated at 3,000 cheered him home.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve won here — a really long time,” said Busch, who arrived at the track early to sign autographs for fans, many of whom have been following him since he raced Legends cars at the ⅜ths-mile paved oval. “I certainly want to give it out to the Rowdy Nation fans that are always there to support me, (especially) all the ones from the Bullring days back when I was a kid.
“My mom and dad and my wife and my son now — my, how times have changed,” Busch, 34, said, reflecting on his meteoric rise to stock car racing superstardom.
After posting the eighth-fastest qualifying time and drawing the sixth starting position, Busch patiently drove his way into contention. He was running third after 50 laps and closing in second-place Christian McGhee when a spin brought out the yellow flag.
It took him two more restarts to bump past Thorn, a two-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series West champion. McGhee made a bold move on Thorn as the cars raced to the checkered flag to steal second place away.
“We had a lot of cautions early, and we were eating some laps under yellow, and I was like it’s going to be a short race under the green flag,” Busch, 34, said about the buildup to the decisive pass. “We had that good restart where my car was able to hook the bottom (of the track), and (Thorn) wanted to close the door and I said ‘Not this time.’
“That’s the Bullring, man.”
Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.
