Kurt Busch is 96 points ahead of second-place Jeff Gordon in the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Kurt Busch

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Yes, Kurt Busch is the Nextel Cup Series points leader. But don't go thinking he reached that status by "points racing." Regardless the venue, Busch is up front.

Four races remain in the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, and Busch leads Jeff Gordon by 96 points. We'll assume it has something to do with New England.

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Think about it: The Patriots are the defending Super Bowl Champions and have won 20 straight games. The Red Sox are one victory away from the unthinkable -- a World Series title. And then there's Busch. He's in the proverbial catbird seat in the Chase, and swept both races at New Hampshire International Speedway.

Coincidence? Likely. But it's an interesting point, nonetheless.

Before practice Friday morning at Martinsville, Busch took a few moments to hang out with NASCAR.COM's Marty Smith and MRN Radio's Danielle Frye to talk baseball, racing families and superstition, as well as clear up the rumor about his having a horseshoe lodged where the sun don't shine.

Smith: Well, Kurt, we have rain here in Martinsville, so let's talk about the Chase. You spin at Kansas, don't hit anything; you go through the infield at 190 mph at Charlotte, don't hit anything... Do you have a horseshoe up your rear end, man?

Busch: Well, I don't want to rub anything the wrong way, here (laughing). But we're going to make sure that things continue to go our way. Really, it's fun to be able to race and challenge the competitors in the Nextel Chase for the Cup, but you've got to have luck on your side, as well.

To finish in the top five at Charlotte was just a true testament of what it takes to win a championship. To not hit anything at Kansas -- to spin around and have the whole field charging at me, I figured we were done. But we came back to finish sixth. Things are good.

Smith: Especially considering that in the past, at Charlotte, you'd never even posted a top-10. So to battle back from a wreck on the first lap to finish in the top five was big.

Frye: Did you think you were done after that first wreck at the beginning of the race?

Kurt Busch and crew chief Jimmy Fennig have always had a bit of trouble at Charlotte. Credit: Autostock

Busch: I said, 'Here we go. This is Charlotte.' I've got to always have that mindset to come from the back. Charlotte, for some reason, every time we go there, something happens like that at the beginning -- we have a motor failure... My first-ever time there nothing happened and I finished 13th, back in the John Deere car, but that was way back in '99...

Smith: I miss that car. I loved it.

Busch: It's crazy! Charlotte. Every time we go there I have to get in that frame of mind to come from the back, work our way forward and see what happens. I never get a chance to stay up front and lead.

Smith: How about looking ahead? You're in the catbird seat now, and it's become a three-man race at this point. How's your mindset compared to those guys that are digging and scrapping and clawing to catch up?

Busch: Well, we're halfway through -- five races down, five to go, and we've got the best position in points. And now I feel like we're coming to tracks that are going to better suit us.

I enjoy coming to Martinsville, the short tracks. Phoenix is a great place to race. Darlington. We've won at Atlanta in the past. Miami's going to be the toughest one because it's the last one, not just because we think we can be good there and we're going to struggle there, just because it's the last one.

And I think that's what it's going to take to get this championship won -- to get through that last race.

Frye: Have you seen this team mature over the season?

The No. 97 team has had two DNFs so far in the 2004 Nextel Cup season. Credit: Autostock

Busch: They've done a phenomenal job. The guys that go over the wall, the guys back at the shop, the engine department, we haven't had, knock on wood there's been no failures in that department, and that's what's kept us in this Chase.

We've only had two DNFs this year -- one was a wreck, one was a transmission failure, probably because I was grabbing too many gears at the same time - and it's a great feeling to know that each one of these racetracks we're coming up to we can do good on.

Smith: How about the fact that you and your brother could pull this (championship) off in the same year.

Busch: That'd be huge, wouldn't it? To see my father, to see the grin on his face when he's at the racetrack or when I talk to him on Mondays or Tuesdays.

Just to know how much we surrounded our lives around him with racing, that's something we did on Saturday nights, all the time. That's all we knew as kids.

I was at the racetrack at two weeks old watching him race, and I as at the racetrack racing against him when I was 16. It's just been a timeline for us.

Frye: How cool is it to see your dreams come true, and for your parents to see that, as well?

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Busch: You get to see the other superstars in sports -- the Williams sisters, Tiger Woods and his father and the training they went through together as father-son and with the daughters and sisters in tennis, they get to play against one another.

My brother and I, we get to race against one another. There's a few similarities and it's a nice satisfaction to know that we've had fun doing it, coming up from the ground up, but yet we can be competitive as well.

Smith: Kurt, you're a huge baseball fan. The World Series is now set. Give us your analysis thus far.

Busch: Well, somebody in red is going to win this deal (laughing). I hate it for my Cubs, they didn't make it. The NL Central has been tough this year. The Cardinals really stretched it out.

But I'd rather go with the New England fans. They haven't had it, neither have the Cubs fans. They're starting off at Fenway. They've got to start off 2-0.

Frye: They talk about the "Curse of the Bambino." Are you superstitious at all?

Busch: I can't be. I just have to play it as it is or watch it as it is. For us, to be in this position only one time now -- we were close in 2002 to competing for the championship, we finished 180 points out or something, but it just wasn't the same feeling as it is now.

So many years down the road now there's going to be opportunity for 10 guys at the end of the regular season to compete for the championship. It's just going to be a continuation of, what teams can't do it.

Is a team plagued by not being able to win a championship? So this is only our first time around. I hope we can keep things straight.

Smith: It seems those that excel in New England are really in the catbird seat this year. The Patriots won the Super Bowl. The Red Sox are in the World Series. Kurt Busch sweeps New Hampshire.

VIDEO Busch on course Kurt Busch overcame trouble to finish 5th at Martinsville

Busch: Heyyyy. Very good! I'm going to have to go with that one. But I'm not superstitious.

Smith: Still, you've got to give me credit.

Busch: That was solid. I'm from the Southwest. I'm trying to find more ties in the Northeast.

Frye: A lot of guys in the top 10 in points have said that maybe the Chase has its flaws. Do you see any flaws, or areas NASCAR could tweak it a little bit?

Busch: It's definitely given us the opportunity to chase this Nextel Cup at the end of the year. With the way things started in the year, you've got a regular season. I think that's the big picture that people are missing, is the Nextel regular season versus the playoffs.

And now with the playoffs here, you have to bring your A-game. You can't slip up. You're going to have to work out of that or hope that you get help from the outside. It's similar to the football playoffs, people having to have an 8-8 record, and then have to get help to get into the playoffs.

Then once you're in you've only got one shot to do it. Lose, you're out. That's the thing I see right now. We've done good for five races, haven't slipped up too terribly bad.

We've got five to go. It's just a matter of not slipping up. You have to win, have to be competitive, have to lead laps. That's what it takes.

Smith: Kurt, following Dale Jr's verbal slip, everybody's really concerned about someone beating him for the championship by less than 25 points. Would you have any reservation, at all, winning the championship by less than 25 points?

Busch: There's so many different ways to look at it, and it's hard to understand everybody's perspective. Not everybody would be satisfied if it became less than 25. For us, we'd be the outright champion. That'd give us the trophy at the end of the day, and that's what our team would feel.

Frye: You wouldn't go turning it over to Dale Jr., would you?

Busch: I'd let him look at it (laughing). I hope we're able to beat him by more than that points deficit. Right now, we're 24 ahead, which many people could look at as one point behind.

There's so many ways. For us, we need to be a championship team that can compete each one of these last five races, not have anything fall off the racecar and compete against Dale Jr. out on the racetrack.

(Jeff) Gordon, I think, is the guy to beat. He's going to come up in there and it's going to be a mix. We could have problems, and get Mark Martin in the mix, Kenseth, Sadler, they're all right there.