{"id":26420,"date":"2020-02-27T04:52:47","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T09:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/?p=26420"},"modified":"2020-02-27T04:53:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-27T09:53:35","slug":"busch-looks-to-get-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/2020\/02\/busch-looks-to-get-back-on-track\/","title":{"rendered":"Busch looks to get back on track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Busch looks to get back on track<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch shows up at Auto Club Speedway for Sunday\u2019s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) not only as defending race winner, but also a competitor looking to get back on track early in the 2020 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s still looking for his first top-10 finish of the season and is ranked 27th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings after two races. He finished 34th with an engine issue in the season-opening Daytona 500 and was 15th last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with only 14 laps out front to date (all at Daytona).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A California race, however, may be exactly what Busch needs to re-set his season and sights on becoming the first back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series champion since Hendrick Motorsports\u2019 Jimmie Johnson won a record five straight titles from 2006-2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that starts with winning a race, however. And the driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota is certainly a strong favorite on this weekend\u2019s two-miler outside Los Angeles, where he has four career wins. In just the last eight years he\u2019s won three times (2013, \u201814, \u201819), finished runner-up (2012) and earned a pair of third-place (2011, \u201818) showings. Busch has seven top-10 finishes in that eight-year span and tallied nearly 70 percent of his career laps led total at the track (564 of 807 laps).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s Auto Club Speedway win was significant and historical \u2013 his 200th among the three NASCAR national series \u2013 NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. And this track contributed mightily to that big total, considering Busch has a record six Xfinity Series wins and two Gander Trucks wins in addition to his four NASCAR Cup Series trophies at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cWest Coast Swing\u201d \u2013 as this three-week race journey at Las Vegas, Auto Club Speedway and Phoenix Raceway is referred to \u2013 has typically been a dependable trophy haul for the Las Vegas native. He is ranked second \u2013 only to six-time race winner Jimmie Johnson – in driver rating (114.0), average running position (8.144) and laps led (807) at Auto Club Speedway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And perhaps if nothing else, this venue remains a sentimental favorite for Busch because he scored the first of his 56 career NASCAR Cup Series wins there in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASCAR Cup Series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Race: Auto Club 400<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Place: Auto Club Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Date: Sunday, March 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Time: 3:30 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV: FOX, 2:30 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance: 400 miles (200 laps); <\/strong>Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60),<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Race Winner: Kyle Busch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASCAR Xfinity Series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Race: Production Alliance 300<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Place: Auto Club Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Date: Saturday, February 29<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Time: 4 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV: FS1, 3:30 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance: 300 miles (150 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 35),<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 70), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 150)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Race Winner: Cole Custer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next Race: Georgia 200<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Place: Atlanta Motor Speedway<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Date: Saturday, March 14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Time: 1:30 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Distance: 200.02 miles (130 Laps); Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30),<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 130)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019 Winner: Kyle Busch<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Busch looks to get back on track Reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch shows up at Auto Club Speedway for Sunday\u2019s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) not only as defending race winner, but also a competitor looking to get back on track early in the 2020 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nascar","category-touring-series-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26420"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26422,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26420\/revisions\/26422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newenglandracingnews.com\/16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}