Busch Makes History, Ties Petty's 200 Victories with Fontana Win

Originally written for CLNS Media.

Kyle Busch made history by winning his 200th career race on Sunday afternoon in the Auto Club 400 from the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, CA.

Busch had a dominant car throughout the race, but a pit penalty with 60 laps to go sent Busch to the back of the field for the following restart.  Busch quickly worked his way through the field, and a late caution helped Busch get back to the front.

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Busch said he wasn’t sure if he would be able to come back from the penalty so late in the race.

“I knew we had a great racecar; we were fast,” Busch said.  “I just wasn’t sure how well we were going to be able to come through the field and make our way through traffic.”

“If it went green to the end, I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out, but sometimes you’ve got to have a little bit of luck on your side.”

Joey Logano finished second, and battled with his teammate Brad Keselowski after the final restart for the lead. 

Logano said the Penske duo didn’t have anything for the speed that Busch had all day.

“Just didn’t have nothing for [Busch],” Logano said.  “We only raced for two laps before the 18 [of Busch] blew our doors off and drove away from us.  Fastest car won the race.”

The victory was Busch’s 200th across the three national touring series (Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Gander Outdoors Truck Series), which tied him with NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty for the most wins in NASCAR history.

The record has been hotly debated in recent weeks amongst NASCAR fans, as all of Petty’s victories came in the Cup Series, while all but 53 of Busch’s victories have come in the two lower-tier NASCAR series.

Busch said he was proud to tie one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, regardless of what some thing of the record.

“To win 200…whatever it means, it means a lot to me,” Busch said.  “Just wish that we can keep it going…running strong, running well and winning these races.”

Unofficial results:

1. Kyle Busch

2. Joey Logano

3. Brad Keselowski

4. Kevin Harvick

5. Ryan Blaney

6. Kurt Busch

7. Denny Hamlin

8. Martin Truex Jr.

9. Aric Almirola

10. Austin Dillon

11. Chase Elliott

12. Kyle Larson

13. Daniel Suarez

14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

15. William Byron

16. Chris Buescher

17. Jimmie Johnson

18. Matt DiBenedetto

19. Erik Jones

20. Paul Menard

21. Alex Bowman

22. Ryan Newman

23. Ryan Preece

24. Michael McDowell

25. David Ragan

26. Matt Tifft

27. Ty Dillon

28. Ross Chastain

29. Landon Cassill

30. Bubba Wallace

31. Corey LaJoie

32. Cody Ware

33. Daniel Hemric

34. Reed Sorenson

35. Joey Gase

36. Garrett Smithley

37. BJ McLeod

38. Clint Bowyer

Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images