Kyle Busch feeling his Pocono mojo

LONG POND, Pa. — Kyle Busch has swept race weekends across all NASCAR series, so perhaps the idea of driving four times in next year’s packed Pocono slate would hold some appeal for the sport’s winningest driver.

“Hell, no,” the native Las Vegans said to laughter. “Not unless they put up a 50-grand bounty or something.”

Just $50,000 to compete in the Truck, Xfinity and two Cup Series races in 48 hours next June? That’s chump change in prize money for a driver who has won NASCAR’s richest races — and the 2015 Cup championship.

Busch’s Bounty has a nice promotional ring for Pocono.

And he just could win them all — including a Cup race of yet-to-be-determined distance on Saturday, June 27, followed by a 350-miler the next day.

Busch was tripped up for years by the tri-oval track, failing to win his first 25 tries in the elite Cup races until he

broke through in July 2017 on a bump-and-run on Kevin Harvick to grab the lead with 16 laps and take the checkered flag.

Busch finished third in the first race last season and has won the last two times at Pocono. He stormed from the bottom half of the field to win last July and matched Hall of Fame driver Rusty Wallace for ninth on the NASCAR Cup Series career victory list with 55 when he took the checkered flag in June.

Busch has remained stuck on four wins in 2019 since Pocono but still has two runner-up finishes over the last six races.

With a victory Sunday in the Gander RV 400, Busch — who qualified seventh (172.427 mph) behind pole-sitter Harvick (174.058) — could join Bobby Allison in 1982 and 1983 and Tim Richmond in 1986 and 1987 as the only drivers to win three straight Pocono races. Busch could become the eighth driver since NASCAR began racing at Pocono in 1974 to sweep both races here in a season, joining Bill Elliott in 1985, Bobby Labonte in 1999, Jimmie Johnson in 2004, Denny Hamlin in 2006, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2014, and Allison and Richmond.

“I’d love the opportunity to achieve that and be there alongside those guys,” Busch said Saturday. “It’s pretty cool to have some of those things when you go to different places and be able to score the wins like we have.”

Busch entered the weekend at Pocono with 206 career wins among NASCAR’s top three divisions: Cup (55), Xfinity (95) and Truck (56).

“The ‘in a rows’ and the dominance at certain race tracks is obviously cool, too,” Busch said.