Busch brothers remain close yet competitive

LAS VEGAS -- Sibling rivalry? Kurt and Kyle Busch can relate.

But instead of fighting over who gets the bigger dessert or who gets to ride in the front seat with mom, these brothers settle their squabbles at 180 mph.

Yeah, Kurt jokes that he "looks like I'm 12 and Kyle is 11 1/2," the two still love the idea of competing against each other, just like when they were growing up, a few miles from Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

It doesn't matter that Kurt drives a Dodge for Roger Penske and Kyle, seven years younger, steers a Chevrolet for Rick Hendrick. There's a bond that can't be undone by something that trivial.

"We don't really spend much time together but we do care for each other and we love each other to death," Kurt said during Tuesday's Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder testing. "Yet, we want to beat each other into the ground at the racetrack, seeing who's going to come out on top."

In Tuesday's morning session, Kurt had the upper hand, with his best time about one-tenth of a second faster than his little brother's. Kurt's best lap was 29.406 seconds, putting him 28th of the 88 cars which posted a lap, while Kyle's quickest lap was 29.505, 43rd on the chart.

When Kyle had the chance to participate in a Goodyear tire test at the revamped speedway in December, Kurt was all ears.

"We met up at Christmas time, so we talked about it then and how the track was and how I felt it was," Kyle said. "You know, just giving him an insight as to what it was like.

"He recognized that and took the advice. Hopefully, he probably used it to his advantage when he got here."

Of course, big brother Kurt returned the favor Monday when he found some extra speed.

"He called me after we jumped on top of the speed charts for a little bit," Kurt said, "Like, 'Hey, what'd you do, what'd you change?'"

It's a philosophy that seems to work well. Kurt has at least one win in five consecutive seasons while Kyle has victories in each of the last two years. Both have made the Chase -- Kurt won it all in 2004 while Kyle was 10th last season.

Still, there's a limit as to what the brothers will discuss.

"We share information on different philosophies or different types of things we saw at racetracks," Kurt said. "How we did or how we passed guys or how this guy raced him or how this guy raced me. But we really never share setup numbers.

"I think that's what keeps our relationship strong, is that there's always that fibbing that can go on if you start sharing numbers. We've never really done that with one another. We just keep a straightforward angle on what we can do outside the racecar together to make each other better."