Objective or not, Busch's talent not up for a debate

A long time ago, so long ago that newspapers were thriving even though their demise already was being predicted in a pre-Internet world, a journalism professor once insisted that if you were going to get into the writing business and gear your subject matter toward the masses, you should strive to write on a sixth-grade level.

Shelby 427

Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
2.	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet
3.	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet
4.	David Reutimann	Toyota
5.	Bobby Labonte	Ford
6.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet
7.	Greg Biffle	Ford
8.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
9.	Jamie McMurray	Ford
10.	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet

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I never believed it. I always aimed higher -- like to write on a seventh- or eighth-grade level.

That seemed to work pretty well until I took this job and started writing about the likes of Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Now I know there are plenty of those out there who do get it, but they usually aren't the ones who write in with absurd complaints -- so for those folks, I now have only one question.

Are you smarter than a fifth-grader?

Because some of you just aren't getting it. Any story about Busch, who again drove magnificently in winning the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, is sure to generate lots of excitement. Not as much as Earnhardt, of course, but that is another story -- one that has been and will continue to be told over and over and over again no matter how many races Junior does or doesn't win.

This is more about Busch, younger brother of the once-better-known and still more accomplished (but possibly not for much longer) Kurt.

Getting it straight

Just because some of us write that Busch appears to be the next great driver on the horizon -- a misnomer in itself, because he's already driven over the horizon and is leaving much of the rest of the field in his wake -- doesn't mean we're Toyota lovers or M&M's lovers (although I do so enjoy the peanut ones). It doesn't mean we pull for Kyle Busch to win every week over Junior or anyone else, because, as writers, we strive to be objective and don't really root for anything other than no rain, a quick race with good storylines and decent food in the media center.

It doesn't mean we've overlooked the fact that he has yet to win a championship, because we know he hasn't. It doesn't mean that we fail to realize the win Sunday was only the 13th of his Cup career, which is 187 shy of the record 200 owned by the legendary Richard Petty. We can read the record books as well as the next guy, better even than most fifth-graders.

It doesn't mean we think he's necessarily better at this stage of his career over the course of a season than Jimmie Johnson, who has three consecutive championships to back up his claim to being the best. Nor does it mean that we're dismissing other talented drivers like Carl Edwards, another up-and-comer who likely will be young Kyle's greatest competition as they move into their 30s -- if Johnson ever proves to be human. (Of course it's worth noting that Edwards, young as he seems, will turn 30 this Aug. 15 while Busch won't hit that mark until May 2015).

It just means we think this kid is one heck of a driver, poised to do great things. In fact, he's already doing them. As he once said, just because you may not like him, don't hate on his talent.

Because the fact is, he's got it. He's got as much of it or more as anyone currently driving. Just ask four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who told television interviewers as much during a pre-race chat Sunday.

Remind you of anyone?

Asked by reporters if he was going to get any sleep following Sunday night's race in his glittering hometown, Busch replied: "I doubt it. We're partying it up big."

He deserves it. But no doubt someone will look at that comment and think it was too brash.

That's the other thing about Busch. Sometimes he's misunderstood. Sometimes folks hate on him just because, well, he's not their vision of loveable or even likeable. Other times he's a jerk and simply doesn't like being called on it.

But it's all part of the package. For along with his driving talent, there is an edge to his personality -- a confidence not just bordering on cockiness but overrunning it to an entirely new level -- that helps make him as good as he is.

Crew chief Steve Addington said it is that fighting spirit that helped get Busch to Victory Lane in Vegas, where their No. 18 Toyota was not the best car on the 1.5-mile track for at least most of the 285-lap race.

"Sometimes you have to scratch and claw and kick, spit and fight for a win," Addington told reporters afterward. "That's what this whole race team did, along with Kyle."

Busch was ticked at himself after wrecking what he thought was an excellent car in the Nationwide Series a day earlier. Then, after winning the pole, he had to start from the rear of the 43-car Cup field because of an engine change.

"I told myself, 'You better man-up and drive this thing or else we're not going to go anywhere,'" Busch said.

The end result was Busch's first Cup victory since last August, when he seemed on top of the world and no one could have envisioned what would be a rapid fall even before the 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup championship began. Busch said the poor finish to 2008 taught him to "probably take the bad days a little easier. But I still hate bad days."

His driving style and demeanor is reminiscent of another pretty good former driver who once came into the sport and drew the ire of most fans and many fellow competitors, only to eventually gain their grudging acceptance and, eventually, their deep admiration. His name is Darrell Waltrip.

It's still early in Busch's career, and this comparison undoubtedly will send the fifth-graders scurrying to their computer keyboards to voice their outrage, but that's the kind of skill and determination and deep-seated confidence Kyle Busch is displaying these days.

And you know what's really scary? He's not even 24 years old yet.

You know how many races Waltrip had won by age 24? Zero. He didn't even break into Cup racing until he was 25, and didn't win his first race until he was 28. Eventually he went on to win a total of 84 and three championships.

So look out, folks. And brush up on that fifth-grade math. Like it or not Kyle Busch is coming, and coming hard, with what may just be an assault on the record books.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.

Joe Menzer is the author of "The Great American Gamble: How the 1979 Daytona 500 Gave Birth to a NASCAR Nation." Click here to purchase.