Go with Kyle Busch at Richmond

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Young driver has been super impressive at Virginia short track


Kyle Busch has a short but sterling Cup resume at Richmond International Raceway. In five starts he has never finished out of the top five.

And come Saturday night when the Nextel Cup Series visits the Virginia .75-mile oval for the second time this year the 22-year-old is my pick to make it to Victory Lane.

This is the final race before the start of the Chase for the Nextel Cup -- a 10-race playoff for the series championship that will include only the top 12 drivers in points after Richmond. The field for the Chase is just about set.

The top eight drivers in the current standings have clinched Chase spots. They are Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Burton, and Kyle Busch.

Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr., who are in ninth and 10th place respectively, must only start the Richmond race to clinch entry into the playoff.

Kurt Busch, who is 11th in points, needs to finish 36th or better at Richmond to make the Chase. Kevin Harvick looks like he will land the final spot in the playoff as the 12th-place driver has a 128-point lead over Dale Earnhard jr, who is 13th in the standings and a longshot to shoot past Harvick.

Working in Busch's favor
He finished runner-up to Johnson in the May race at Richmond. Although Busch hasn't yet won at the Virginia layout, it hasn't been for a lack of competitiveness. It seems a given that he'll again run real strong on this short track, and he's ready to win after several near misses, including a real heartbreaker in this event last year when Harvick passed him with just two laps to go.

At Richmond Busch has an average start of 16.8 and average finish of 3.4. He also has the second-best Nextel Cup driver rating at the track (115.2), and has completed 100 percent of a possible 2,000 laps run, leading 292 of those laps. Drivers have certain tracks they remain hot at for an extended period of time. In his relatively brief Cup career which began with six races in 2004 Busch has been a blast furnace at Richmond.

Working in Busch's favor
He finished runner-up to Johnson in the May race at Richmond. Although Busch hasn't yet won at the Virginia layout, it hasn't been for a lack of competitiveness. It seems a given that he'll again run real strong on this short track, and he's ready to win after several near misses, including a real heartbreaker in this event last year when Harvick passed him with just two laps to go.

At Richmond Busch has an average start of 16.8 and average finish of 3.4. He also has the second-best Nextel Cup driver rating at the track (115.2), and has completed 100 percent of a possible 2,000 laps run, leading 292 of those laps. Drivers have certain tracks they remain hot at for an extended period of time. In his relatively brief Cup career which began with six races in 2004 Busch has been a blast furnace at Richmond.

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