Busch wants new team to support him at all costs

LOUDON, N.H. -- Kyle Busch said he knows what he wants for Kyle Busch when it comes to the driver's future.

And what he said he wants is to drive for an organization that will back him completely, in public and behind closed doors. He indicated that he isn't sure he always has received that kind of support from Hendrick Motorsports.

No. 1 target

After Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he was signing with Hendrick, Kyle Busch became the top driver on the market.

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"[I want] somebody looking out for Kyle Busch. Somebody that will back me, somebody that will, you know, I guess back me up when I'm right -- and when I'm wrong, take me off to the side and sit me down and tell me," Busch said Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway, where he was preparing for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300. "Just an organization that will be to the point, and tell you to your face. I don't need somebody or something where people will be sort of two-faced, telling you that you're great and this and that and everything else, and then go behind closed doors and tell somebody else, 'Man, he's out of control. What are we doing? This, that and whatever.'

"It's just something where you want to have the personnel behind you. You want to have people that are backing you. You want to have sponsors who appreciate you and back you. And of course, being able to have a good relationship not just with the team owner, but with everybody in the organization."

Busch will finish out this Nextel Cup season driving the No. 5 Chevrolet for team owner Rick Hendrick, his employer since 2004. Although he was under contract with Hendrick Motorsports through next season, he and Hendrick mutually agreed to part ways recently when Hendrick announced that he was signing Dale Earnhardt Jr. to a five-year contract, beginning next season.

Asked to clarify if he felt he was treated as he described by Hendrick, Busch replied: "You know, I didn't see it, but I heard it. I'd rather just find somebody that does stand behind me that I know stands behind me, where I hear from everybody that they're standing behind me -- instead of hearing through the grapevine that there are different things being said."

Busch said that he wants to take his time finding his new employer. And he made it clear that he is working on his schedule, and not that of his prospective bosses.

"The teams have their timetables with their sponsors and stuff like that, where they have to let them know," Busch said. "We don't want to have to hold them up too much, or anything like that.

"But my timetable, I would like it to be a little bit longer than what some of theirs are. For me, I would say mine's probably four or five weeks away. But you know, as far as theirs, there are a couple of teams out there that probably would like to know in more like three or four. So they might have to push their sponsors back one or two weeks, which hopefully won't be a big deal."

Busch said that he has enjoyed meeting with different race organizations over the last couple of weeks.

"It's been great," he said. "It's been something that's been good for me, I believe -- being able to go around and see some different things and see different aspects of different organizations and see exactly what they've got going on, what the future holds for them, what they're going with and what they have going on now. It's been a good process, and I'm looking forward to being able to sit down and do some more discussions in the next couple of weeks to hopefully finalize something for on down the road."

Sources have indicated that the frontrunner to land Busch remains Dale Earnhardt Inc., the organization Earnhardt is leaving at the end of this season. But on Friday, driver Kevin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing said that RCR is looking hard at adding a fourth team next season, a move that likely will be mirrored by Ginn Racing and other organizations currently running only three teams. Busch could conceivably end up at one of those places of employment.

"I think a fourth team brings a lot of things. That's where the sport is going," Harvick said. "It brings more money. It brings more ideas.

"It's just a matter of how it's all going to fit together. It needs to have the right chemistry with our teams. And you've got to find the right driver and crew chief to go together with what we already have."

Busch made it clear Friday he is willing to consider a switch in manufacturers as well, meaning he won't necessarily continue his driving career in a Chevrolet. Owner Ray Evernham of Evernham Motorsports already has told Busch he would love to have him driving for his organization, which runs Dodges; and there also could be interest from Penske Racing, which runs Dodges and employs Kyle's older brother, Kurt. The top Ford team is Roush Fenway Racing, which already employs five drivers and is the only organization to run five full-time Cup teams (NASCAR now limits organizations to four teams and has told Roush that it must cut one team by 2009).

"There actually are a couple of manufacturers that are in the mix right now," Busch said. "We'll just have to see how it plays out. Of course, Chevrolet is one of 'em; Dodge is another one; and there has been some Ford talk. So like I said, we'll just see how it plays out. Those teams can reveal who they are if they choose to expose that information.

"For me, I'm just looking forward to getting further along in the process. We got through our week; now we're getting through our weekend here. We'll get some racing out of the way and let some of those people come back to us next week, if they choose to do so, and talk some more."