Cup leader Kurt Busch says Darlington is a stop where you 'race the track.' Credit: Credit: Autostock

Busch's confidence high heading to Darlington

Roush Racing veteran says tires will play pivotal role Sunday

Kurt Busch is on the verge of winning not only his first championship in NASCAR's premier stock car division, but also the first Nextel Cup. The quest is the result of a concerted, season-long rebuilding effort.

Busch said Tuesday he has seized on all the best elements of his team owner, Jack Roush; his veteran crew chief, Jimmy Fennig; and four former and current Roush Racing teammates to elevate himself to a leadership role.

Heading into this weekend's Mountain Dew Southern 500 at tough old Darlington Raceway, Busch has a lead of only 48 points over the next contenders in the Chase for the Nextel Cup: Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

Busch said he's looking forward to the next two weekends, but particularly Darlington, where he has a Bud Pole, a startling second-place finish by inches to Ricky Craven in spring 2003 and three top-10 finishes.

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"This racetrack is definitely different from the other racetracks in the final 10 races," Busch said. "It's a chance to isolate yourself from all the outside circumstances and just to allow yourself to invite your setup to the racetrack and make sure that you race just the racetrack and not the other racecars."

Busch said, despite blowing an engine in his No. 97 Sharpie/IRWIN Ford at Atlanta two weeks ago and seeing nearly a 100-point margin vaporize, his team is still in the driver's seat.

"Well, I'd have to go with the vote toward the 97 team, obviously with the way that we've been competitive at some of the short tracks as well as the speedways, and just being able to out-race the competitors, whether it's been (Johnson, Gordon or Earnhardt).

"Each week we look at the statistics at the end of the race to know who we out-raced. We've done our job on the racetrack except for that one hiccup at Atlanta.

"So with our hiccups out of the way as well as everybody else's, it's now a fresh slate for these final two races. Now it seems like we have less and less competitors to look at and less and less competitors to beat out on the racetrack.

"It just makes our job easier with Darlington being this weekend, a track that we get to race the racetrack and not worry about our competition."

Busch knows it's obvious he might have a bull's-eye on his backside, but he's remained nonplussed by the strain, and hopes his competition does the same.

Car owner Jack Roush is eyeing his second consecutive Cup title. Credit: Autostock

"If they approach it the correct way, they'll understand what they have to do -- and that's race the racetrack," Busch said. "I believe the way that competitors have been as of late with pit stops being important, track position being important, all of those elements will take a backseat to racing hard on the racetrack, and understanding how you've abused your tires, if you have or if you haven't, and just taking care of your tires is going to be the key role that it's going to take to achieve success at Darlington."

In the interim, Busch, along with Fennig, will exercise his active, leader's role.

"(Wednesday) is a day where I'll be spending time with the crew, working together with the shock guy or the tire guy going over our test notes from Miami, preparing for that race," Busch said. "There's a certain amount of hours each day that I spend on this task, then there's a couple other hours here or there where I'll go indulge myself in something else just to relieve some of the tension, not to focus on it too much."

That's one of the elements of maturity that Jeff Burton has noticed.

Burton was Busch's teammate from his first Winston Cup race up until midway through this season, and Burton has seen the refinement in the championship leader's milieu.

"It's hard to put one single thing on it (but) I think (Busch's) team is extremely well prepared," Burton said. "They have shown the ability to be fast enough to be in the position that they're in, but they haven't shown the ability to always finish races the way they've run -- they haven't shown the ability to get through adversity as well as they need to.

"They've been able to do that this year. They've had way less mechanical failures this year with the engine program. Kurt has been more even-keeled this year as opposed to getting really upset and losing focus a little bit.

"I think the maturity is part of it (and) I think mechanical problems are part of it, that they haven't had. They've shown the ability to run fast enough for a couple years, but being able to do that every week and knock down the finishes, that wasn't their strong point.

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"They put all that together this year (and) I think that's the main reason they are where they are."

Burton said Busch is in the prime position, but he did not sell Hendrick Motorsports short, either.

"Kurt is sitting where I'd want to be -- if I were in the hunt, that's certainly where I'd want to be," Burton said. "It's certainly hard to look at Jimmie Johnson, what they've done, and not put a lot of emphasis on how far they've come in a short time (and) they have the most momentum, without a doubt.

"I said this two weeks ago, and I don't mean to bring up a bad story, but I know the Hendrick Motorsports people pretty well. They will use a tragedy as inspiration.

"I think they're racing extremely inspired right now, and I think that Kurt feels that. I think those two teams (Jeff Gordon and Johnson) will be factors without a doubt."