Prior to Busch's recent ascendancy in the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, and his success in the Sprint Cup Series, the media never combined any other driver's win total. If so, then they would have been on the edge of their seat in the 1992 when Darrell Waltrip won his 84th career Cup race at Darlington, giving him 97 career NASCAR wins. You see, Waltrip won 13 races in the Busch Grand National Series. He was closing in on the exclusive '100-win' milestone. I do not recall any media hype surrounding Waltrip's combined win total.
Dale Earnhardt often competed in the Busch Series back in the day. In fact, he won 21 races in that series. Add that to his 76-win total in the Cup series, Earnhardt was on the verge of the '100-win' club prior to his tragic death with 97. There is no doubt that he would have likely exceeded that mark. However, as polarizing as Earnhardt was, people seemed to overlook his combined win total.
How about the ageless Mark Martin? Martin's win total is at 96. He is still competing and plans to in 2012 and beyond. Even if he does not have another Cup win in him, he still has the ability to win four more races in the Nationwide Series or Camping World Truck Series. However, I never hear the media combine Martin's win total.
When you combine win totals, it can be confusing. Based on the Kyle Busch rule of stats, Martin has won more NASCAR races than Jeff Gordon, who has a combined 89 wins (84 Cup, 5 Nationwide). As wonderful as Martin's career has been, he is not Jeff Gordon. But, he has more wins, as he opted to compete in other series. Gordon focused most of his attention on his Cup program.
In my humble opinion, you keep the win totals separate. I do not hear John Kruk, Wendy Nix, or any of the Baseball Tonight crew counting wins and strikeouts for Cliff Lee when he was in the minor leagues and adding them to his Major League totals.
So, why the obsession with Busch's win total? Here is my take. In the world of sports, records are meant to be broken. The sports world watched in excitement as Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's all-time home run record or when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa raced to shatter the 61-single season home run mark held by Roger Maris. The same can be said when Tom Brady broke Peyton Manning's single season record of touchdowns.
Richard Petty holds the NASCAR record with 200 career wins, all in Cup, although many were in a completely different era. Distantly trailing Petty is David Pearson with 105 wins. Gordon has 84 Cup wins, and is the active leader in wins. However, there is no chance that he will sniff Petty's win total. It is never going to happen. Therefore, the media has watched Busch tear up the Truck and Nationwide Series, as well as notch a nice amount of wins in Sprint Cup. Ah-ha, now there is way in which we can promote an all-time record being shattered, a record that is legitimately untouchable.
I guess they are not satisfied with Jimmie Johnson's astonishing record of five consecutive championships.
In a few years, it is likely that Busch's win total will reach 200. However, by this logic, Busch better not stop at 201, because Petty has a win in the long-defunct NASCAR convertible series. So, Petty actually has 201 wins.
11 comments:
IF Kyle Busch raced back in the Allison Pearson Petty era of 7 nights a week so called "CUP" racing almost year round, we would be talking about King Kyle's 300+ victories and how Busch and his superior 454 C.I. Aluminum Block engine blew everyone out of the woods in most races. Not even Petty with his 427 Hemi & Big money STP sponsorship could catch Kyle. IT would get to the point at a few events they would start Kyle at the back of the pack 25 laps down in a 100 lap race. By the end of the race he made up all the laps and still was in victory lane.
I'm guessing you're a Kyle Busch fan. I do believe Kyle is one of the few drivers that could be competitive in the golden era.
i had this same argument on "racehub" facebook page the other day. i see it as blatent disregard for NASCAR history and its legends. Kyle can drive but he isnt halfway to petty
what a stupid article. guess they feel us fans do not understand this when these numbers are posted. anyone paying attention knows there is a difference between Cup and, NASCAR win totals. what kind of morons do they think we are not to realize these stats. Kyle is still a kid and, young in his career. maybe we need to do this. How many wins did these other drivers accumulate in all series's of racing at age 25? Sounds like they are trying to knock Kyle down before he rises too much !!! Heaven forbid if he is placed high up there by his fans. I'm not dismissing these other drivers accomplishments. But, Kyle does deserve the credit due to him for his phenomenal performances so early in his career.
what a stupid article. guess they feel us fans do not understand this when these numbers are posted. anyone paying attention knows there is a difference between Cup and, NASCAR win totals. what kind of morons do they think we are not to realize these stats. Kyle is still a kid and, young in his career. maybe we need to do this. How many wins did these other drivers accumulate in all series's of racing at age 25? Sounds like they are trying to knock Kyle down before he rises too much !!! Heaven forbid if he is placed high up there by his fans. I'm not dismissing these other drivers accomplishments. But, Kyle does deserve the credit due to him for his phenomenal performances so early in his career.
How many championships does Busch have? That would be zero. NASCAR is trying to generate hype and interest with false "records" and numbers, because the product on the track lacks interest. Busch is a greeat driver, but beating up on lesser drivers with superior equipment means nothing.
Jerome
The main problem is that most of the people who watch intermittant race entertainment shows don't really know the difference between the series or the difference in what drivers like RP, DW, DE and others accomplished in just one, yes - one, series. Busch is a good driver but you are comparing apples to oranges when you combine all series rather than just giving stats for the Cup Series. A lot of us older, long time fans know the difference but today's casual fan does not.
They should not be combined and compared.
Thank you.
Drew
Look, Kyle is a good driver maybe even a great driver. But, a lot of his Nationwide and Truck Races he has won has been in superior equipment and crews. A lot of these truck and nationwide drivers are beginers in Nascar while Kyle is moonlighting and beating up on them with better equipment and crews. Remember the 1/4" spacer on the dyno Joe Gibbs had on the Toyotas to hide their true horsepower? The Toyota's have definitely had an advantage especially in the truck and nationwide events and Kyle's win totals reflect that. Where was all the Kyle success when he drove for Hendrick? Don't believe he had anywhere near the success he has had with Toyota. And, remember, Kyle is a cup driver moonlighting in the lesser beginers series and while this makes his win totals look good it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. Nascar is trying their best to make Kyle likeable and accepted by the fans and just when D.W., Nascar, and all tell us how great he is and how his attitude has changed Kyle goes back to doing what he has always done-making an ass of hisself either on the track or on some public highway. Sorry, Kyle has a long way to go before he ever shows me that he has changed. Until he shows repect for other drivers and shows some maturity for an extended period of time he can win a thousand races against some of these underfunded truck and nationwide teams and I'll never accept him.
This argument is ridiculous. Kyle deserves credit for the 100 NASCAR wins, he is only 26 and has more wins than Martin 52 and Gordon 40. So thank you for your stat update Mr. Writer Dude. No one here is stupid enough to try to claim that they equal the 200 by the King, but they are not so different either. Richard Petty won most of his races with superior equipment against inferior opponents. You may say what about Pearson, Yarborough, or Allison? Thats three drivers, the vast majority of the field was pathetic. I say what about Edwards, Harvick, Keselowsi? Top notch Sprint Cup talent Busch competed against in every Nationwide race and some truck.The truth of the matter is, while Petty is the King, he raced sometimes 3 times a week on obscure short tracks against inferior opponents. Winning by laps, not seconds. They will never be equal, but they sure as hell arent that far apart either.
Thank you! I agree 100% Why not throw Kyle's go cart wins from when he was 5 in there too!
Also, maybe some of those wins would mean more, if they they had been won as a Truck or Nationwide driver instead of a Sprint Cup driver using the "minor leagues" as his persnal playground to stroke his ego.
How many wins would Earnhardt or Pearson have had if they'd have had cars like Petty had back in the day? Everyone would be chasing them instead talking about Pettys 200 (which would have been 20 under todays rules) or whatever imaginary total they give Busch
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