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Kyle Busch Goes For Sweep

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The Associated Press

Published: November 11, 2007

AVONDALE, Ariz. - Kyle Busch's run of bad luck officially ended Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Busch followed his Friday night Truck Series win with a victory Saturday in the Busch Series, giving him a chance today in the Nextel Cup event to become the first driver to sweep all three of NASCAR's national series at the same track on the same weekend.

"I am not saying we will. I am not saying we won't," Busch said. "I am just saying we hope to. It would be a great honor to have that."

In preparation for the moment, Busch pulled a broom-waving fan into Victory Lane to pose for pictures. Busch starts 38th in today's race.

"It would be really special to get that for Kyle," crew chief Alan Gustafson said. "It would be a great way for us to finish up the year."

The promise is a steep turn of events for a driver who arrived in Phoenix frustrated by what he considered four straight losses. He was on pace to win the Cup event two weeks ago in Atlanta until a slow final pit stop took him out of contention.

Then he dominated the Truck race in Texas, but blew a motor and failed to finish. He was disappointed with a second-place finish in the Busch Series, and after leading 153 laps in the Cup race, faded to fourth at the end.

But the 22-year-old driver jumped right back behind the wheel to find solace, fleeing Texas for his hometown of Las Vegas to test a late model car. And he was actually racing for four wins this weekend - Busch had to hustle out of Phoenix to make it back to Vegas in time for a 140-lap short track race.

So his mood was considerably lighter as he left PIR, where he led 131 laps and held off Matt Kenseth over several late restarts to claim the win. The 11th caution brought out an 11-minute red-flag, and Kenseth had one last chance to chase down Busch for a two-lap overtime finish.

But Kenseth, who had no power steering, had nothing for Busch on the restart and he jumped out to a lead of about six car-lengths and coasted toward his fourth Busch Series win of the year.

Power Takes Pole For Today's Mexico City GP

MEXICO CITY - Will Power overcame a wrist injury to win his fifth pole of the Champ Car season during a record-breaking day of qualifying on the Hermanos Rodriguez track.

Seven drivers broke the track record set Friday by St. Petersburg resident Sebastien Bourdais, with Power coming in more than a second faster around the 2.774-mile track with a time of 1 minute, 23.558 seconds.

The Australian set the record while driving with two hairline fractures in his left wrist, which he injured in a collision during the Indy 300 in Australia on Oct. 21.

Bourdais already has clinched the season championship for the Newman-Haas-Lanigan team and Friday's qualifying lead gave him a guaranteed front-row start today.

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