Monday Roundup: Kyle Busch Makes History, Earnhardt's Troubles Continue

Mark Martin.

Jeff Gordon.

Jeff Burton.

Tony Stewart.

An outstanding group of drivers who all have won inaugural races of the year in NASCAR Sprint Cup, which can now added another name to this elite club.

Welcome, Kyle Busch.

In front of a sellout crowd of over 107,000, Kyle Busch took the entire field behind the woodshed and dominated to win the first ever race in the Cup Series race at Kentucky Motor Speedway, leading 125 of 267 laps, including hard charges from Jimmie Johnson and David Reutimann at the end.

The victory was also his 99tth career win (22nd in Sprint Cup) and third this season, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most of the year.

He also took over the points lead as well. 

Reutimann finally put together a complete race and finished second, with Johnson in third, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards rounded out the top five.  

But another major development that came out was the continued backslide of Dale Earnhardt Jr. 

Earnhardt was not a factor at any point during the race and to make matters worse, a flat tire on lap 254 caused significant damage which relegated him to 30th place, dropping him another spot in the championship standings to eighth, only 21 points in front of 11th place Tony Stewart.

NEXT STOP: New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Driver to Watch: Jeff Gordon: Gordon scored top tens in both trips to the magic mile last season and also has a win at another flat-mile track, Phoenix this season.

He also comes into this race with momentum, with top tens in five of the last six races including a win at another flat track, Pocono.