Vegas win special for Kurt Busch

LAS VEGAS — The racing bug hit the Busch family long before the NASCAR champion brothers were born. Their father attended the first Daytona 500 in 1959 with his parents, and later, while working as a mechanic at a Las Vegas car dealership, he decided to try racing at the local short track.

Tom Busch built and won in his own cars. When his boys were born, he built cars for them, too. It was just a hobby when it began but it turned out the Busch brothers were a pair of thoroughbreds.

Busch developed his sons into a pair of aggressive and motivated young drivers who dominated the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then raced their way to North Carolina hoping to make it in NASCAR. Kurt kicked the door open and Kyle, seven years his junior, followed.

Today they have a combined 88 Cup Series wins, three shared Cup titles and are considered among the most talented and knowledgeable drivers of their generation.

Now they’re celebrating a weekend that brought the Busch family full circle. Kurt Busch finally won at the home track about 24 hours after a third generation Busch went to victory lane: Brexton Busch, Kyle’s 5-year-old son, earned his first win, in a winged box stock at Millbridge Speedway in North Carolina. Brexton’s budding career is being steered, of course, by Tom Busch.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been tough on the Busch brothers, who grew up dominating the threeeighths-mile asphalt bullring on the property. All that success on the very same grounds, yet nothing but disappointment over at the big track.

Kyle won once, in 2009, but Kurt was 0-for-21 when the Cup race started Sunday night. Kurt wasn’t all that great for two thirds of the event and then a caution flipped the race completely. He was suddenly the leader, had three remarkable restarts and finally earned his first Las Vegas Motor Speedway victory.