Kyle Busch named 1st Quarter Driver of the Year

Kyle Busch crushed the competition on the track and in the ballots as he won 1st quarter Driver of the Year 2008. Busch won a total seven races in NASCAR's top-three series, Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. Although he leads in the Cup standings with a second place this past weekend in Richmond, voting only considered results through the previous event at Talladega Speedway. In the voting Busch took 14 first-place ballots, and none lower than a third place totaling 142 points. Cup rival Roush/Fenway driver Carl Edwards' three wins earned him one first-place vote and a total of 72 points. Danica Patrick, who drives for Andretti Green Racing, whose record-setting first win in top level IndyCar Series for a woman, garnered two first place votes and totaled 51 points in third place. Ashley Force, daughter of the 1996 Driver of the Year beat her famous father, John Force last week in Atlanta in NHRA's funny car division was fourth in the voting with 49 points. A total of 17 drivers scored points in the first quarter voting, including fifth place Jason Meyers, in the World of Outlaws who won three of the first six races. In related news, ESPN's award winning writer and broadcast journalist Terry Blount has been added to the panel. DOTY PR