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Kyle Busch banking on speed and record for Texas

There is no denying Kyle Busch's ability when it comes to the 1.5-mile Lone-Star-State Track of Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in Fort Worth. Across 36 career starts in all three of NASCAR's premier racing series, Busch has recorded seven wins, 20 top-five finishes, 22 top-10 finishes and two poles. This week he'll visit the appropriately referenced "No Limits" intermediate track, with one goal in mind, to visit victory lane with Toyota and his own No. 54 Monster Energy team.

Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing Dodge
Brad Keselowski, Penske Racing Dodge

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

While he hasn't secured victory at TMS in the Sprint Cup Series, Busch has proven to be a regular winner's circle visitor in the NASCAR Truck and Nationwide Series. In the Truck Series, Busch mastered two wins over 2009 and 2010. In the Nationwide Series, his resume boasts 5 wins, but more impressively, the 27-year old Las Vegas native has dominated the Nationwide Series events consistently. Busch won both 2008 events, then repeated by winning both 2009 events, then continued to show his strength with a spring 2010 victory as well. When he returned for the fall 2010 NNS event, Busch finished in second place, narrowly missing a three-year sweep.

In 2011, Busch had another opportunity to finish well until an on-track incident took away his ability to finish the race. Now the young team owner-driver looks forward to returning in 2012, to continue his winning streak. Across Nationwide Series drivers, Busch has recorded the fastest race laps and maintains the most amount of laps led in series competition at this venue. Will 2012 be the year the all-time winningest driver in the Nationwide Series resumes his winning streak and masters the Lone-Star-State track as an owner and a driver? If records are any indication, history is likely to repeat itself.

Kyle Busch, Driver of the No. 54 NASCAR Nationwide Series Monster Energy Camry:

You have a strong record here in the Nationwide Series, what is it about Texas that you enjoy? " It's a fast race track. I enjoy the speed here and especially in the Nationwide Series I feel like I've done a good job getting the car handling right. Those wins over a couple of years here were definitely a confidence booster. But setting up the car so that it has the right amount of grip is going to be important. They tend to have long green flag runs here, so track position will be key. Hopefully our qualifying effort will put us up front and we can stay there."

Mike Beam, Crew Chief of the No. 54 NASCAR Nationwide Series Monster Energy Camry: You didn't have the chance to finish the Texas event the way you wanted to, fighting engine issues in the spring. This week you return with an improved chassis and your team owner behind the wheel. What are your expectations?

"We ran well with this car the last race at Chicagoland (Ill.) and had a chance to win with it. We have worked on this car since Chicago, after some wind tunnel development test time. It should perform well. We have come a long way since our first Texas race and hopefully we can win this time for Kyle, Toyota and Monster Energy. For all of their support, they deserve to win. We will do everything in our power to deliver that to them."

Kyle Busch's No. 54 Monster Energy Camry: Chassis KBM-008: KBM will unload car #008, raced at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth with Kurt Busch, who endured engine problems and finished in the 30th position. The Camry had its second start of the year at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May, with Kyle Busch, who started 12th and brought home a third-place finish. Over the summer, chassis #008 competed at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, again with the elder Busch, then at Chicagoland (Ill.) Speedway with team owner Kyle Busch, both producing second-place finishes. The backup machine is Chassis KBM-003, raced five times this year with three top-five finishes recorded.

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