Head2Head: Off the pace, not for long

For my money, Kyle Busch is the best pure racer in NASCAR. What he lacks is polish, something that separates him from say, someone like Jimmie Johnson. But as we've seen with Johnson, a maturation process must be met in order to reach championship status.

Busch is only in his fifth full season in the Cup Series and at age 24 already has 15 wins. There's no reason to believe many more won't follow with a handful still to come in 2009. With four victories at this point last year, Busch currently is only one off that pace with a stretch upcoming that in 2008 produced four wins in seven races.

What Busch needs to get back to is the consistent top-five and top-10 finishes. Busch went through a similar lull last year ... it just happened to come early in the Chase and it quickly derailed his title hopes.

The law of averages caught up to him. He's getting it out of the way earlier this year -- remember, he started the season with two wins and a third-place finish in the first five races -- and when the series rolls into Homestead in November, Busch will be the one poised to challenge Johnson's throne.

For what it's worth, Busch still has led the most laps (789) thus far, is second in Driver Rating (103.7) and fifth in Average Running Position (11.299). Not too bad for a guy who has "struggled" of late.

Carl Edwards will return to his "former self" soon enough. After all, he's not far from where he was this time last year.

Edwards is sixth in the standings, just two spots removed from his position 14 races into 2008. Sure, he had three wins, but a poor final pit stop at Texas and flying into the catch fence at Talladega cost him two victories this season. His worst finish of 2009 came at Darlington when Greg Biffle got into him, turning a stout piece into a sour one.

Despite mishaps in the early going, the 99 is the hottest team outside of the 14, 39 and 48. With his runner-up finish at Pocono, Edwards is riding the momentum of three consecutive top-10 finishes into Michigan, where he's won two of the last four races. I fully expect a backflip Sunday at Roush Fenway Racing's home track.

While Edwards is hitting his stride, Kyle Busch is struggling to walk. Eight spots in the standings removed from where he was last year, Busch has finished 22nd or worse in four of the past five races. The 18 team is heading in the wrong direction and Rowdy's frustration was evident in his verbal lashing of Steve Addington at Pocono.

Edwards and Bob Osborne know when to turn up the wick -- they won six of the final 16 races in 2008. The 99 team is playing their cards perfectly ...get into a groove and dominate when it matters most.