Kyle Busch’s streak reaching historic level

APD NEWS

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Kyle Busch’s victory Saturday at Richmond Raceway continued his historic run, making him the third Cup driver in the last 35 seasons to score seven consecutive top-three finishes.

Busch will seek to tie the runs of Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.

Harvick had eight consecutive top-three finishes from late in the 2014 season to early in the 2015 campaign. Gordon had eight top-three finishes in a row in 1998.

Busch’s run marks the ninth time in the modern era (since 1972) that a driver has finished in the top three in seven consecutive races, according to Racing Insights.

The record in the modern era is 13 consecutive top-three finishes. Darrell Waltrip did it in 1981 and David Pearson did it in 1973 — Pearson’s total was not consecutive races but consecutive starts since he did not compete in every race that season. The all-time record is 16 consecutive top-three finishes by Richard Petty in 1971.

Busch also seeks to win his fourth Cup race in a row this weekend at Talladega.

“Pretty cool to win three in a row,’’ Busch said after his victory at Richmond. “That’s really special. Certainly we did that in ’15. Almost won four in a row. We ran out of gas, half a lap to go (at Pocono in 2015). Next … we go to Talladega. I think it’s easier to win the Power Ball than win at Talladega. We’ll give it a go anyway, see what we get.’’

Busch finished 27th at Talladega in October and third last April there, losing the lead on the last lap of overtime to Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

The last driver to win four races in a row is Jimmie Johnson, who did it in October and November 2007 on the way to the second of his five championships in a row. Johnson won at Martinsville, Atlanta, Texas and Phoenix during what was then called the Chase.

Busch’s win at Richmond also was the 46th of his career and tied him with Hall of Famer Buck Baker for 15th on the all-time list.

Busch is two behind Hall of Famer Herb Thomas for 14th on the all-time list and three behind Tony Stewart, who is 13th on the list.

“To tie another Hall of Famer is a lot,’’ Busch said. “It’s a huge deal to climb the ladder of wins.’’

(NBC)