Busch looking to make history

Driver has chance to sweep three weekend races

Driver Kyle Busch celebrates after winning the NASCAR Busch Series race Saturday in Avondale, Ariz.

? Kyle Busch’s run of bad luck officially ended Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Busch followed his Friday night Truck Series win with a victory Saturday in the Busch Series, giving him a chance today in the Nextel Cup event to become the first driver to sweep all three of NASCAR’s national series at the same track on the same weekend.

“I am not saying we will. I am not saying we won’t,” Busch said. “I am just saying we hope to. It would be a great honor to have that.”

In preparation for the moment, Busch pulled a broom-waving fan into Victory Lane to pose for pictures. Busch starts 38th in today’s race.

“It would be really special to get that for Kyle,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “It would be a great way for us to finish up the year.”

The promise is a steep turn of events for a driver who arrived in Phoenix frustrated by what he considered four-straight losses. He was on pace to win the Cup event two weeks ago in Atlanta until a slow final pit stop took him out of contention.

Then he dominated the Truck race in Texas, but blew a motor and failed to finish. He was disappointed with a second-place finish in the Busch Series, and after leading 153 laps in the Cup race, faded to fourth at the end.

But the 22-year-old driver jumped right back behind the wheel to find solace, fleeing Texas for his hometown of Las Vegas to test a late model car.

So his mood was considerably lighter as he left PIR, where he led 131 laps and held off Matt Kenseth over several late restarts to claim the win. The 11th caution brought out an 11-minute red-flag, and Kenseth had one last chance to chase down Busch for a two-lap overtime finish.

But Kenseth, who had no power steering, had nothing for Busch on the restart and he jumped out to a lead of about six car-lengths and coasted toward his fourth Busch Series win of the year.