Well the Nextel Cup champion is still up in the air, but the Busch championship has been all but sealed by Martin Truex Jr.
From Nascar.com
One of the untold stories last week at Phoenix was the fact that Martin Truex Jr. made a major step towards his first Busch Series title.
Truex's solid third-place finish, coupled with Kyle Busch's runner-up finish, gives Truex a 161-point lead heading into this weekend at Darlington.
The most the points can swing in one race is 156 points, which guarantees Truex will at least hold the lead heading the season finale.
If Kyle Busch win the last two races and leads the most laps in each, then Truex Jr. has to average a 17th-place finish in each race to win the title.
Truex Jr. will only need to start the Miami event to win the title if he finishes ahead of Busch at Darlington. If Truex wins at Darlington and leads the most laps, he will officially clinch the title if Busch does not score a top-five.
A Busch Series title for Truex would be the first for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chance 2 Motorsports, and the 24-year-old is mirroring his owner's path to the Nextel Cup Series.
Truex is just his first full Busch Series season, just like Earnhardt Jr. was when he won the Busch Series title in 1998. Earnhardt Jr. had nine career starts before his first full Busch season; Truex had 15.
In his first full season in 1998, Earnhardt scored seven wins and 22 top-10s in 31 races -- and Truex Jr. scored seven wins and 23 top-10s in his first 31 races of 2004.
Like Earnhardt Jr. did before him, Truex will return to defend his potential Busch Series title before entering the Cup Series. Earnhardt Jr. won another Busch title in 1999 before entering Nextel Cup full-time in 2000.
Truex is already signed with DEI through 2007, which includes one more Busch season (2005) before entering Nextel Cup in 2006.
Busch has already announced plans to enter Nextel Cup in 2005, taking over for Terry Labonte, who is entering semi-retirement.
He could clinch it this weekend, but he'll probably only need to start the race in Miami to win the championship. I'm very excited for Truex. First year in the Busch series and he wins the championship, that's awesome! All we need now is for Jr. to win the Nextel Cup championship and it will be a DEI sweep!
