Busch still learning ropes in sophomore campaign

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kurt Busch may be a fresh face, but he's no neophyte. At times this Winston Cup season, he's flirted with both Boy Wonder and Black Sheep status, dazzling and frustrating in nearly equal measures.

"He has the opportunity to do great things, no doubt about it," said Jeff Burton, a Roush Racing teammate. "He can be his greatest ally or his worst enemy."

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There's little doubt about the Boy Wonder part. At 24, Busch is the second-youngest Winston Cup regular. And this weekend, he returns to Bristol Motor Speedway, the site of his first Cup win in the spring's Food City 500. The milestone generated karma that remains; Busch starts eighth in Saturday night's Sharpie 500.

"Always, a win's a win," he said. "And obviously as a kid dreaming about it, it meant a lot to me. It was a very solidifying day for the 97 car to be now in the winner's category."

Since, Busch has backed up the victory with nine top-10 finishes and a season-long flirtation with the top 10 in points (he currently sits 12th). That's not bad for a Cup sophomore.

Busch's journey in the three months since his victory has been pockmarked by sharp highs and basement-level lows. A second at California in May was followed by a 27th at Richmond. Later that month, and into June, a 31st in the Coca-Cola 600 was followed by a 12th at Dover, a 40th at Pocono and a 10th at Michigan.

"We've been running every race capable of winning," said crew chief Jimmy Fennig. "We've had misfortunes with accidents, motors. But the one good thing is everybody keeps staying on a high because you have a driver that can win races. There's no doubt about it. The guys are putting equipment under it that he can win races."

Busch's successes also have been tempered by a few scrapes, and not the metal-on-metal or metal-on-concrete variety. Two track incidents with Jimmy Spencer prompted a NASCAR carpet-call at Watkins Glen three weeks ago -- a summit attended by Busch, team owner Jack Roush, Spencer, and his team owner Chip Ganassi.

In May, frank comments about a track tangle with Robby Gordon during NASCAR's non-points all-star event, The Winston, netted Busch a fine. Then there's his temper, which erupted during July's Pepsi 400 at Daytona. A pit-road speeding infraction touched off a tirade over the No. 97 team's radio frequency, and Busch paid the price in penalty laps.

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"Well, he's competitive," said Fennig, who talked his driver back to calmness at Daytona. "When you're that competitive, you will have a temper, but he's young. He'll be all right with that."

Last week at Michigan, engine problems prompted complaints to Roush.

"I don't mind telling you that I had a long conversation with his dad on the phone, and then I went to see him one day when I thought it might be helpful," Roush said Friday, with a smile. "And Kurt realizes that he needs to manage his frustration and his anger better so that it doesn't become a detriment."

"The fire within me wants to win every race," Busch said. "The competition level that I have within myself, I want to try to do everything right, and when I'm wrong, then I'll be the first one to admit it. Those are lessons learned."

Busch appears to be the Roman Candle among sparklers in the Roush stable. Mark Martin, Burton and Matt Kenseth's public personas are usually reliably even-keeled (though Martin is said to have had some fiery moments as a youngster).

While some testiness is good, too much isn't. Tony Stewart's anger issues are well-documented, as are Kevin Harvick's early-season brushes with NASCAR authority. Of the two, Harvick's situation more closely mirrors Busch's. Both drivers jumped to Cup with only one year of seasoning in the Truck series. Both have learned a few off-track lessons the hard way.

"And here's one thing about younger drivers versus older drivers," Burton said. "The older driver is able to accept what's done is done. You're not going to change the result. You've got to be able to move on to the next week."

Burton paused, twisted his hands together to illustrate frustration.

"Not every instance requires that dire freaking out," he said.

As for emotional maturity, Busch admits he's a work in progress.

"It takes quite a bit to tip me over as far as when things go wrong," he said. "I normally get tipped over when things are out of my control that go wrong. When I make a mistake, I'm the first to admit it, and I'll put the pressure on myself to fix and make it right. So I need to learn how to deal with the things that are out of my control a little better and that's the professionalism that I've been thrown into here."

"I keep telling him, we're in the grief and suffering business," Roush said. "The NASCAR fan and the media feeds off things that go wrong -- the horrible frustration, the expectation that you had for success, what the heartbreak is like, and how you acted through the heartbreak, what the consequence was."

Like most drivers, Busch has had some difficult things to swallow, including common mechanical and accident kinks that nail everyone, and more frustrating stretches like the last three weeks. Prior to the Brickyard 500, Busch stood fifth in the points. Since then, back-to-back 41st-place finishes at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen and last week's 39th at the season's second Michigan event dropped him to 12th.

"We've been in an up-and-down, see-saw season with the way that our points have been gathered up," Busch said. "But we've been competitive every week. So it's been fun."

	Kurt Busch (right) with team owner Jack Roush. Credit: Autostock

With two engine problems in Busch's last two races, Roush says he's aware his youngest driver may be the toughest on equipment. According to the owner, Busch doesn't abuse cars or parts, but does extract every ounce of horsepower.

"Kurt, unhappily, has the distinction right now of testing parts better than anybody else in my group," Roush said. "And if I can fix them so that it doesn't give a problem to Kurt's car, I'm sure it won't be a problem anyplace else.

As for personal fixes, Busch says he's well ahead of that. Both he and the veteran Fennig are anticipating a return to tracks visited earlier this season. Busch and Fennig are in their first year together after an off-season switch between Martin's and Busch's teams.

"The best thing is now we have our notes from the first half of the season," Fennig said. "And I'm really looking forward to next year, because next year it's going to be even better."

"My team is 100 percent behind me," Busch said. "That's the way that the support is around here. Everybody knows it's part of the learning curve and everybody's willing to lend a hand to help and to make it better. Because we surely deserve better than 12th in points right now."