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• The Kobalt 400 will mark Kyle Busch’s 429th career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start and his 13th NASCAR Cup Series start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Busch has career totals of 38 wins, 19 poles, 147 top-five finishes, 219 top-10s and 12,374 laps led in 428 career Cup Series races. His most recent Cup Series win came in July 2016 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, when he brought home his second consecutive win at the historic 2.5-mile oval. Busch’s win came from the pole position, his most recent pole and the 19th of his career.
•Busch has one win, five top-five finishes and six top-10s and has led a total of 230 laps in 12 career Cup Series starts at Las Vegas. Busch’s average Las Vegas finish is 13.5.
• What’s your sign? In addition to the Q&A at Ethel M Chocolate earlier in the day, Busch will sign autographs for fans from 5 to 7 p.m. PST Thursday at the M&M’S World location on Las Vegas Boulevard. Fans can check with the store for details on wristbands that will be handed out Thursdaymorning.
• The record books show Busch won the 2009 Shelby 427, his first win at his hometown track, from the pole. But, because of an engine change during the Friday practice session, Busch had to do it by starting at the rear of the field and storming to the front. It was an emotional win in the city where he grew up.
• Home Sweet Home: From 1999 to 2001, Busch earned more than 65 wins in Legends cars while racking up two track championships at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway “Bullring” before moving up to Late Model Stock cars. Winning seemed to come naturally no matter what Busch drove as he captured 10 victories in Late Model competition at the Bullring in 2001.
• In 2002, Busch graduated with honors from Durango High School in Las Vegas – one year ahead of schedule.
• Driver Training: In 2001, at age 16, Busch made his debut at Las Vegas with a solid ninth in the Orleans 350 Camping World Truck Series race. Just a few weeks later, Busch was about to make his first Truck Series start at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, but NASCAR officials were forced to pull him from the event because of a conflict between his age and the weekend’s open-wheel race that featured cigarette sponsorship. The unexpected ruling by NASCAR put new age limitations for competitors and sidelined Busch from NASCAR competition until his 18th birthday.
• 38 Career Cup Series Wins: With his Cup Series win at Indianapolis last July, the 38th of his career, Busch is tied for 19th on the all-time Cup Series win list with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Matt Kenseth.
• Trimming the List: With wins at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City added to the list last season, Busch has won Cup Series races at 21 of the 23 tracks at which the series competes. The only two tracks he has yet to conquer in the Cup Series are Pocono (Pa) Raceway and Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. During his 2015 Cup Series championship season, Busch checked off Indianapolis and Homestead-Miami Speedway. Four of Busch’s last six Cup Series wins have been his first at each track in NASCAR’s top series (Indianapolis, Homestead, Martinsville and Kansas). Of the 21 different tracks where Busch has won, he has multiple wins at 11 of them.
• All-Time JGR Wins Leader: With his Brickyard 400 last July, Busch passed three-time Cup Series champion Tony Stewart for most all-time Cup Series wins for JGR. Busch now has 34 wins for JGR to Stewart’s 33.
• 170 and Counting: Busch enters Las Vegas with 171 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions – Cup (38), Xfinity (87) and Truck (46) following his NASCAR Xfinity Series win last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
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