Busch Wins Again!

SPARTA, Ky. (May 11, 2003) – With his family in attendance, Kyle Busch delivered an early Mother’s Day gift on Saturday by winning the Channel 5 – 205 at Kentucky Speedway for his second consecutive ARCA Series victory. Busch remains undefeated since joining Hendrick Motorsports and the No. 87 ditech.com team, leading 91 of 137 laps with his father Tom working as spotter and mother Gaye as scorer. Defending series champion Frank Kimmel was second and remains atop the ARCA championship standings after six events. “Frank is an exceptional competitor,” Busch said. “He’s been up front in the series for a long time and he’s one of the greats here. It was really neat to battle with him the whole night. “Sometimes he’d steal my air and sometimes I’d try to steal some of his -- he’s an exceptional driver. It was a great battle and I enjoyed it a lot.” The victory was Busch’s second in as many starts with Hendrick Motorsports and sponsor ditech.com, with his first victory coming at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway on April 11. “Ditech.com and Hendrick Motorsports are two great companies to be involved with,” Busch said. “We’re here in the ARCA Series doing the best we can, trying to win races, but also just trying to gain experience and get ready for running the Busch Series full-time next year. That’s what we’re working toward.” Busch, who started fourth overall, quickly moved into the second position on the event’s first lap, passing second-place Matt Hagans and third-place Brent Sherman before entering Turn 3. From there, he concentrated on chasing down Kimmel, the pole-sitter and four-time ARCA champion. After 15 laps, Busch passed the veteran and began stretching his lead to more than 10 car-lengths before the second caution flag of the race was displayed just past the 40-lap mark. The 18-year-old pitted for fuel and a full set of tires, coming out first after a solid stop by the No. 87 ditech.com team. Following the restart, Kimmel passed Busch for the lead at Lap 49 and held it until the No. 87 Chevy took the point for the final time at Lap 81. “Winning was great, especially on Mother’s Day weekend,” said Busch, whose margin of victory was more than three seconds. “My mom being here made it even more special.” Busch’s next stop will be Lowe’s Motor Speedway where he will compete in both the May 22 ARCA event and the May 24 NASCAR Busch Series race.