History was nearly made again by Kyle Busch this weekend, as he continues to seek a complete weekend sweep of the Camping World Truck, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup Series.
But this time, older brother Kurt stole the spotlight.

Kurt Busch took the lead with three laps to go after younger brother Kyle’s No. 18 M & M’s Toyota ran out of fuel, forcing the younger brother to relinquish the lead for pit road and allowing Kurt to capture his second victory of 2009.

But arguably the biggest event of the day happened just three laps into the 334 laps, when Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet, and his 184- point lead over second place Mark martin, went crashing into the outside wall.

Johnson was caught in a wreck involving the No. 77 of Sam Hornish, suffering heavy damage to his Lowes’ Chevrolet. His team spent more than 100 laps in the garage repairing the severely tattered vehicle before Johnson could return to the track. He did manage to gain several positions after returning, but finished 38th, some 129 laps behind Busch.

Johnson’s poor finish, coupled with Mark Martin’s respectable fourth- place result, allowed Martin to cut 111 points off Johnson’s points lead. He now trails by 73 points with two events remaining.

But despite posting his worst finish since he finished 39th in the 2008 Coca-Cola 600, Johnson seemed confident that he will win his fourth straight championship.

“It’s still a respectable lead, 73 with two to go is a good position to be in,” Johnson said. “I hate we gave up all these points. … It’s not as bad as it could have been, we could have finished 43rd.”

Martin, meanwhile, has seen the glimmer of hope he’s been looking for. But he was still cautiously optimistic.

“It’s still a long shot because they have great performance,” he said. “We can’t go outperform them 70 some points but racing’s not over yet. Jeff Gordon is breathing down my neck, Tony Stewart. We’ll have to see what happens here.”

Meanwhile, the fuel gamble by several drivers proved to be costly. Busch blew his chance at history, while Dale Earnhardt. Jr. again fell victim to bad luck, stalling on pit road after running short of fuel. He finished 25th despite running in the top 10 for much of the race.

But several drivers capitalized on their gambles. Denny Hamlin had his strongest finish of the chase, taking the second place spot and moving from 11th to eighth in the points. Matt Kenseth was third, followed by Martin in fourth. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.

Other chasers were Tony Stewart in sixth, Greg Biffle in eighth, Ryan Newman in 12th, Jeff Gordon in 13th, Brian Vickers in 26th, Kasey Kahne in 33, Juan Pablo Montoya in 37th, Johnson in 38th, and Carl Edwards in 39th.

Chase for the Sprint Cup Standings (After 8 of 10 races): 1. Jimmie Johnson (6297 points); 2. Mark Martin (-73); 3. Jeff Gordon (-112); 4. Kurt Busch (-171); 5. Tony Stewart (-178); 6. Juan Pablo Montoya (-236); 7. Greg Biffle (-247); 8. Denny Hamlin (-322); 9. Ryan Newman (-324); 10. Kasey Kahne (-399); 11. Carl Edwards (-440); 12. Brian Vickers (-520).
Nationwide Series: Kyle Busch dominated the O’Reilly Challenge at Texas, leading 179 of 200 laps en route to his fourth straight Nationwide victory at Texas and his eighth win of 2009. Casey Mears was second in a rare Nationwide Series start, after filling in for Jeff Burton. Jason Leffler was third, Matt Kenseth fourth, and Brad Keselowski fifth.

Busch now holds a 272-point lead over Carl Edwards and can clinch his first NASCAR championship next week at Phoenix.
Camping Word Truck Series: Busch took his first victory of the weekend in the Camping World Truck Series, leading 54 of 147 laps. It was his seventh win of 2009, and his fifth consecutive victory in the last five events he has entered. Matt Crafton was second, followed by Ron Hornaday in third. Todd Bodine was fourth, and Colin Braun was fifth.

Hornaday now leads Crafton by 197 points with just two events left.

Coming Up: All three series head to Phoenix International Raceway for the second-to-last racing weekend of 2009.

Bruce Knoll, 17, of Eldora, can be contacted by email at bknoll jr4cmcherald@yahoo.com

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