Youngster Busch feeling like a veteran

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Sure Kurt Busch may only be in his second full season of Winston Cup Series competition, but he's already starting to feel like an old-timer.

And not just because he's winning, either.

For this kid, two consecutive years in the same racing division is like an entire career.

Video Victory 3: NAPA 500 Play video Victory 2: Old Dominion 500 Play video Victory 1: Food City 500 Play video

"It's the most time that I've spent in a specific racing division," said Busch, the wiry and wily 24-year-old who won Sunday's rain-shortened NAPA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, marking the second consecutive week he's taken the checkers in Winston Cup competition.

"This is awesome, we just kept digging and kept working and things are running smooth. To win two in a row and to win at short tracks, it's been an awesome year. We just keep going and everything we can imagine has come true."

Busch's career has certainly been dreamy thus far. After just one season of Craftsman Truck Series competition -- in which he won four times and captured Rookie of the Year honors -- owner Jack Roush promoted him to NASCAR's elite tier.

The new solitary focus, and subsequent stability therein, has proven shockingly fruitful. Busch is one of five Winston Cup drivers to score at least three wins in 2002.

"I've been able to grasp it that much more because I've been here for a while," Busch said. "You never know if you're gonna be staying in Winston Cup -- if you've got the stuff, so to speak, to cut the mustard."

If dicing condiments is a prerequisite for Winston Cup success, Busch entered 2002 wielding a machete worthy of Jet Li.

With three races remaining in his breakthrough sophomore campaign, Busch has scored three wins, including two straight, and ranks sixth in the point standings. Just 70 points separate him and fifth-place Rusty Wallace.

	Busch surprised many by winning two of the six short track events in 2002. Credit: Autostock

That's quite a contrast from a rookie season that failed to produce a victory and saw Busch finish 27th in the overall standings.

Busch cites simple maturation and an off-season crew switch that brought Mark Martin's team and crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, over to the Rubbermaid shop as the major differences between last year and this, a difference that was immediately obvious.

"Each race has its own special victory within it, and there are so many lessons learned," Busch said. "There aren't one or two things that jump out as just being a great lesson, but I think when I went into January and had Jimmy Fennig there at the test with me, I knew the season was going to be great from that point on."

There's no question it's great now.

"It's been superb," he said. "Just from the way Jimmy Fennig and I went to Daytona to test in January, I could tell things were going to be different. There was a more methodical thought process behind everything and things just flowed. Things are just so smooth."