Kyle Busch's 2010 Bristol Sweep: A NASCAR Triumph

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: On August 21, 2010, NASCAR's Kyle Busch becomes the first driver to ever sweep a week at all

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: three levels of NASCAR competition, winning the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series, and the

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Craftsman Truck Series all in the same week at the Bristol Motor Speedway, which has

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: become known as the Bristol Sweep. Here's the history behind how it all happened today

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_00]: on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History, I'm Ethan Reese, your guide

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: to a rapid deep dive into sports history every day. Today's trivia question is why

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: wasn't Kyle Busch able to race in the NASCAR Cup Series until he was 18? Now Kyle Busch

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: is one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time with over 63 wins at the Cup

[00:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and 378 top 10 finishes. And at the Xfinity Series, he has 102 wins with 267 top 10 finishes.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And in the Craftsman Truck Series, he has 66 wins and 141 top 10 finishes. And he started out

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: as many drivers do racing go-karts as a child and quickly rose through the ranks.

[00:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And actually at the age of 16, he began to race in the NASCAR Craftsman Series. Now,

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: if you don't know, there are three levels of NASCAR. There is the NASCAR Cup Series,

[00:01:38] [SPEAKER_00]: which is what you're probably accustomed with. It's got Daytona, Talladega, the Brickyard,

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_00]: the big major races you see normally on Sunday afternoon. But they also have the

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Xfinity Series, which is kind of a second tier level to the Cup Series, kind of a minor

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: system for drivers to work their way up to the Cup Series. And it's gone by many names. It's

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: gone by the Budweiser Model Sportsman Series, the Grand National Series, the Busch Series,

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the Nationwide Series. And since 2015, it's been the Xfinity Series. And then there's the

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. It started in 1995 and has been known as the Super Truck

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Series, the Craftsman Series, the Camping World Truck Series, the Gander Outdoors Truck Series.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: And now again is known as the Craftsman Truck Series. Now this one's a little bit different

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: as both NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series are stock cars. And this is a stock truck, which

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: means it has that truck look, although you wouldn't want to use these trucks to move

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: anything because they don't have a whole lot of space in their bed. But it's a different kind

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of racing. And it was what really drew Kyle Busch. Kyle is a guy that just loves to race. At age 16,

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: he finally, he started to compete in the NASCAR Craftsman Series for Roush Racing. And he was

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_00]: actually limited from being in the NASCAR Series as at the time they were sponsored by

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Marlboro Cigarettes and you had to be at least 18. But at the age of 19, he finally made

[00:03:12] [SPEAKER_00]: his NASCAR debut and he was a guy that just loved to race. He worked his way up, but he loved the

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: Truck Series. He worked his way into the Xfinity Series. And once he got to NASCAR, he stayed

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: there, but he just continued to want to race. And the way these races work usually is wherever

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: the NASCAR Cup Series is going before that race, they'll have the Truck Race and the Xfinity Race

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: before at the same track. So many guys actually do like to race every now and then another one of

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: those races, but Kyle was different. He wanted to race those a lot and a lot more than other

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_00]: drivers. And this is the reason why he holds the record for the most wins across the three

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: top series. And in 2003, he became one of only six drivers to have won both a Cup Series

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: and Xfinity Series. And then in 2010 is when he officially completed the very first sweep,

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: winning at all three races in the same week. Well at Bristol Motor Speedway. Now if you don't

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: know Bristol, it is a smaller track as it is only half a mile oval track. So it's very fast

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: and very quick. And it's actually small enough that they've actually held college football games

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: in the middle of the track. And NASCAR has been running there ever since 1961 and has been a

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: staple in NASCAR ever since. So why did Kyle Busch compete in all three series? Well,

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the simple reason is he loved to race. It really allowed him to stay vigilant,

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_00]: keep racing. It's kind of like practice makes perfect. The more you race, the better

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: you're going to get. And he really enjoyed the series, especially the Truck Series.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: As he later said, he could take or leave the Xfinity Series, but the Truck Series was

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of fun for him as it was a different kind of racing, as trucks are different than cars.

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: But it is also a goal for him to try to win at all three races during a week,

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: as it's very difficult because you have to win three different races and three different cars,

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: as each series has different specifications for the cars. So it all started at the O'Reilly 200

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: on August 8th at the Bristol Motor Speedway. And this was the first win of the weekend

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_00]: at Bristol. And this was, at the time, part of the Camping World Truck Series,

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: which now is known as the Craftsman Truck Series. Then on Friday, August 20th, he would win the

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_00]: Food City 50 for, at the time, the NASCAR Nationwide Series, which is now known as

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the Xfinity Series. So he had gone two for two, heading into the big one, the NASCAR Cup

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Series. And this one wasn't as easy, as he had an ongoing feud with another racecar driver at the

[00:05:51] [SPEAKER_00]: time, Brad Keselowski, as during this race, he actually intentionally wrecked Keselowski late in

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: the race and actually openly mocked him by making a crying baby face. And Brad would go on

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to call Kyle Busch a jerk later that same day. And on lap 161, Kyle Busch would emerge

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: into first place, passing Jimmy Johnson. And he continued to grow his lead lap after lap.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And after he crossed the finish line, he would celebrate with a broom, saying he had swept the

[00:06:25] [SPEAKER_00]: entire event, saying this was something he had been fighting to do ever since he had been

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: in NASCAR. He wanted to prove that he was the best at all three levels. And Bristol seemed

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: to be his lucky charm, as in 2017 he did the same thing, winning all three races in one weekend.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: And despite being 39 and having all the success he's had, as he's a two-time NASCAR Cup champion

[00:06:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and he won the Xfinity Series in 2009, and he's a seven-time Truck Series winner and a

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: two-time SB Best Driver of the Year winner, he continues to race to this day. Although it's

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_00]: as NASCAR later added a rule limiting Cup Series drivers from participating in as many Xfinity

[00:07:16] [SPEAKER_00]: and Truck Series, as they want to use that more as a minor league system to grow drivers. They

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: don't want the name-brand drivers they have like Kyle Busch to continue to go down and

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: dominate that series, as he's the most winning driver in the Xfinity and Truck Series. And so

[00:07:31] [SPEAKER_00]: they want to have other drivers have that opportunity. And they're just limiting the

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: amount they can do those races so he doesn't have the chance to win the Cup Series at each

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00]: of those smaller stages. That doesn't mean he couldn't still do the sweep as he can plan out

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: which races he does throughout the year, but it does make it more of a challenge. And they

[00:07:54] [SPEAKER_00]: call it the Kyle Busch rule, but it doesn't seem like he's slowing down anytime soon as he

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: just seems like a guy that loves to race all the time. And I want to thank you for listening

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: to today's daily sports history. If you like this, please subscribe wherever you're listening

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: so that way you don't miss a single episode and come back tomorrow for more daily sports history.

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: The answer to today's trivia question of why wasn't Kyle Busch able to race at the NASCAR

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Cup Series until he was 18 was because at the time they were sponsored by Marlboro,

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: who was a cigarette company, and you couldn't race for a cigarette company until you were 18.

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Just like you couldn't smoke until you were 18 as well.