Kyle Busch’s mark stands on its own

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) >> Kyle Busch has 200 NASCAR national series wins, the same number as Richard Petty, and the totals will never stack up equally into a pair of neat columns that make for an easy debate between the two.

The wins can never be compared because they were in different eras, under different NASCAR rules and against dramatically different levels of competition. Petty and Busch were born 48 years apart, and Busch didn’t even meet the minimum age requirement to compete in NASCAR until 11 years after Petty’s retirement.

So what is with the obsessive handwringing in comparing the statistics?

Busch on Sunday collected his 200th checkered flag with a victory at Auto Club Speedway in California. Petty won all 200 of his races at the Cup level. Busch’s

win at Fontana was the 53rd of his Cup career, but accompanies 53 Truck Series victories and 94 in the Xfinity Series — both records for NASCAR’s minor league national series.

Win No. 200 came a day after he finished second in the Xfinity race and capped a three-week West Coast road trip in which Busch never finished lower than third in seven races. His stops in hometown Las Vegas, Phoenix and finally California netted back-toback Cup wins, two Xfinity Series victories and a runner-up finish and a Truck Series win at Vegas.

For those keeping score at home, his average finish was 1.42 in seven events spanning three series.

His older brother, the 2004 series champion, succinctly summarized just how improbable Busch’s accomplishments are on a weekly basis.