LOUDON, N.H. – Kyle Busch grabbed a souvenir for the victory lap he’d perfected 99 times before: a white “100” flag that rippled out the window of the No. 18 Toyota, one special number and a giant slice of NASCAR history.

Whether purists like it or not, Busch joined an elite list in auto racing history, becoming the third NASCAR driver to win 100 races.

Busch’s victory Saturday in the New England 200 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway also tied him with Mark Martin for first place in career Nationwide Series victories with 49. Busch has 22 wins in Sprint Cup and 29 in the Trucks Series.

“It will stick out for a long time because it is No. 100,” Busch said. “But I’m not going to say it’s the biggest one. This is certainly a special day.”

It might not even be his biggest win this weekend if Busch can win the Sprint Cup race today.

It might be hard to remember if Busch reaches his goal of winning 200 races.

Only Richard Petty has hit that whopping number.

Petty is NASCAR’s career leader with 200 wins and David Pearson is second with 106. Petty won all of his races at the Cup level. Pearson won 105 races in Cup and one in Nationwide. Busch has 100 wins spread over NASCAR’s top three national series.

“You set your goals high and get out there and try and do it,” Busch said. “It’s down the road, but hopefully one day we get to 200.”

Busch, the 2009 Nationwide champion, won for the sixth time this season.

Asked how many of his 99 victories he remembered, Busch said this week he only thinks about the next one.

It’s here.

Busch, only 26 years old, took a victory ride around the track holding the “100” flag.

One of the most polarizing drivers in the sport, even the milestone cause a stir, with old-school fans saying Busch’s total shouldn’t be lumped with Petty and Pearson.

Petty’s son and former driver Kyle Petty posted on Twitter he felt it was an unfair comparison.

Busch understood those feelings. But 100 wins is 100 wins.

“Certainly, mine’s a little bit different,” Busch said. “But it feels good.”

He has 22 wins in 240 career Cup starts, 49 for 217 in Nationwide and 29 for 93 in Trucks.

Martin, who has 96 career NASCAR wins, was one of the first to shake Busch’s hand and offer congratulations.

Martin races only a few times in Nationwide each year, but did win a race in Las Vegas this year. Martin recalled the first time he saw Busch turn some practice laps.

“He was a natural from the first time he slipped into one of those big stock cars,” Martin said. “It’s been amazing to watch. It’s hard for me to get my arms around where he is at his age.”

Kevin Harvick was second and Kasey Kahne third. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five.

 

TRUCK SERIES: Matt Crafton held off a charging Austin Dillon to win the Trucks Series race at Newton, Iowa, snapping a 79-race winless streak.

Dillon led for most of the race, but fell behind after a late pit stop. Pole-sitter David Mayhew was third, followed by Johnny Sauter and Joey Coulter.

 

DALE EARNHARDT JR. was having his best season at Hendrick Motorsports until a four-race slump sent him from third to eighth in the Sprint Cup standings.

He finished 21st at Michigan, 41st at Sonoma, 19th at Daytona and 30th last week at Kentucky, a rough stretch that not only extended his losing streak to 111 races, it again stirred doubts he can be a serious contender for the title.

Earnhardt is frustrated but he hasn’t let the dip in production affect his morale. He was one of the hottest drivers in the sport six weeks ago and he believes he can hit that level again.

“We’ve got good cars. We’ve got a really, really good team,” he said. “We should be running better than we have been the last couple of weeks and we know it. We are just going to try and work really hard to get back where we were earlier in the season.”

His eighth-place standing would earn him a guaranteed spot in the Chase for the Cup championship field at the cutoff. He is only 21 points ahead of 11th-place driver Tony Stewart, leaving little wiggle room for more poor finishes. A top 10 today at New Hampshire could go a long way toward easing some doubts about Earnhardt.

“We wanted to come in here with a lot of confidence that we belong in the Chase,” Earnhardt said.