Busch admits an attitude change may help his team

INDIANAPOLIS -- Feeding the homeless, exchanging pleasantries in the garage, admitting his faults ... what has gotten into Kyle Busch?

Nothing. He's just choosing to show a side of himself rarely seen by NASCAR fans or media types after a much-needed self-realization.

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Kyle Busch reflects on his poor Chicago performance, improvements he and the No. 18 team need to make and Denny Hamlin's leadership.

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The maturation process of young Busch, though seemingly at a glacial pace, is underway because the Joe Gibbs Racing driver knows he must improve his attitude in order to become the championship-caliber competitor he has the potential to be.

Preparing for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, Busch confessed on Friday that he needs to be a better team player.

"I need to become a better person in being able to pull our team together and lead these guys and, ultimately, lead them back into the Chase," Busch said.

The realization comes after a miserable week at Chicagoland Speedway where the No. 18 team posted one of its worst finishes (33rd) of the season. Busch, who described the week as his "worst ever," was irate over the radio and called his car "junk."

"A lot of that could have been my fault, just not communicating with the team in the way that we needed to in order to get our car better throughout that race," Busch said. "That was a bad week. Hopefully we can get back to some good ways here."

Busch said his pledge to improve his approach and attitude is part self-realization and part help from his friends, publicist Bill Janitz and spotter Jeff Dickerson

"It's been a frustrating season and other drivers would look at it and love to have this season," said Busch, who last season had eight Sprint Cup Series wins, 10 Nationwide Series wins and three victories in the Camping World Truck Series. "When you look at last year, this isn't our style, this isn't anything that we would like to have, struggling to get ourselves into the top 12 and make the Chase. We want to be up front where Jimmie [Johnson] is and Tony [Stewart] is, Jeff [Gordon], Kurt [Busch] and all those guys. That's where we want to be."

But at the end of the day, for Busch, it's still about being competitive. (Continued)