I don't know if it really was that funny, but it came as the typically hectic scene unfolded in Phoenix International Raceway's Victory Lane after last Saturday's Able Body Labor 200.

A journalist came up and thanked Carl Edwards, who through his fifth Nationwide win of the season, combined with Kyle Busch's backsliding ninth place finish, had eliminated the need to write a "Busch clinches title" column that evening.

Edwards got a chuckle out of it. I'm sure the writer wasn't being lazy -- he probably just wanted to head over to Claim Jumper at McDowell and 99th, or the Chuckbox on East University in Tempe or Oregano's just west of that for a bite of dinner. And you can't blame him for that.

But it seriously makes you question -- both from a media aspect as well as for Busch personally -- what impact this title will have on Shrub.

So what next? You can only hope it brings some peace, some inner satisfaction and the realization that, doggone it, he and his Joe Gibbs Racing team led by crew chief Jason Ratcliff, have accomplished something special.

And they've beaten some darned tough competition to do it, including 2007 champion Edwards, who's an annual contender; the surging Brad Keselowski, who's truly had his afterburners on the last year-and-a-half; and steady Nationwide regular Jason Leffler.

The biggest nightmare to me would be if Busch has a bad race in Saturday's Ford 300 at Homestead and limps, figuratively smoking, into the champion's reception. Given Shrub's virtual disallowance of anything short of Victory Lane, the potential for an ugliness quotient off the charts might be high.

But then, according to JGR team president J.D. Gibbs; so what?

"I kind of like the aspect that, in our sport we don't have a 10-minute cool-down period like in other sports, and we had it happen last week [in the Sprint Cup race at Texas, where Busch dominated but ran out of gas and lost, then walked away without comment]," Gibbs said. "If you've got to get away, do it. But more times than not you've got to get up there and say your interview because people like that raw emotion, for better or worse."

If Busch did that, it might be among the best things for the sport, and more importantly, for his image.

"I talked to Kyle for a while this morning and he gets it," Gibbs said on Sunday morning at Phoenix. "It's almost as if, and I don't disagree, but when you clinch it you almost want to clinch it on a good race, on the upswing and not just back in. Carl did what he had to do [by winning] so hat's off to them.

"But the reality of it is, I told [Busch], 'do not do anything to injure yourself this week, you've got to go down [to Homestead] and start the race and we're good.' But I think he wants to run hard and end on an up note."

Gibbs said the message he tried to convey to Busch was that momentary downturns happen in every phase of life, sports and business; and moving on is critical.

"We've had a great year," Gibbs said. "Something negative might even happen next week, but you can't let that take away from the big picture, and what this team's accomplished. And he was great [Sunday] morning."

Edwards admits it isn't simple and wasn't easy for him, either -- not when you're a competitor. And Shrub, God bless him, is nothing if not one competitive SOB.

"At the time I didn't look at it probably the way I should have -- I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have," Edwards said when all the pictures were done, and he had a moment to reflect on the final Busch Series championship. "So looking back, it's something I'm really proud of, but when it happens you're thinking 'this is easy, this is no big deal, I should have won by more, we should have won the owners' championship or we won it, but...'

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A champion is a champion and that's all there is to it, but week to week we all feel like we're the best drivers out there.

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CARL EDWARDS

"But there is no 'but' -- you're the champion. I was the champion in 2007, but looking back on it I really appreciate it more now than I did then."

The scary thing is; it might not change a thing. Would he get credit or extra respect from his peers? Don't expect it.

"Aaah, I don't know if it's different; I don't know if that perception really changes," Edwards said. "Clint [Bowyer] won the championship last year and I don't think anything differently of him. We're competitors, we don't want to give anybody credit and I'm sure they don't think anything differently of me.

"A champion is a champion and that's all there is to it, but week to week we all feel like we're the best drivers out there and those other guys just got lucky and that's how it goes. And I think a little bit of that's healthy."

But right before that Edwards -- who has had a minor spat or two with Busch through their rising careers -- had done just that.

"Any personal issues that we've ever had aside, those guys really earned this championship," Edwards said. "They have run very, very well, so you've got to respect that."

Let's just hope that Busch himself does a good job of that; and here's betting that when the dust settles after Homestead, he'll do just fine.

"Remember, this is all new to him," Gibbs said of his first-time champion. "Kyle's passion is winning races, but to win a championship, it's not all about winning races. You've got to take what you're given sometimes, and he's done a lot better job of grasping that."

Edwards' teammate Greg Biffle, who won his first title in the Truck Series and followed it up shortly after in the Busch Series, remembers it well.

"It was really, really important," Biffle said. "I remember those days like it was today. It was Texas that I clinched the [Truck] title, and the [Busch] Series, I clinched it in Phoenix. It's memories that I carry with me. It's a lot of fun. Those championships are hard to come by, and you have to overcome a lot of obstacles to win them, and they mean a great deal to people."

At least they should.

Hamlin not a wreck

And according to J.D. Gibbs he's not going to go out of his way to create any, either. Gibbs explained, on Sunday morning at Phoenix, the emotion involved in his lead Sprint Cup driver's verbal threat to Brad Keselowski after the pair exchanged blows with their cars late in the Able Body Labor 200. Hamlin came out on the worse end of that.

Budding Rivalry

After Brad Keselowski spun Denny Hamlin at Phoenix, words were exchanged and meetings were held with NASCAR officials.

• Wreck in Phoenix
• Driver reactions
• Keselowski meets with France

"The reality is, and I think [Hamlin] knows that some things in life are really frustrating," Gibbs said. "Part of that was just venting, and he's not going to go and do anything. He was calm and he just said what he was feeling, but the reality of it is, none of that [retaliation] is gonna happen.

"With Brad, there appears to be some issues with us that just have to be addressed. I'm not the expert on how you go about doing that and I think it's not our job to do it. There still could be some issues down the line but at least now everybody knows what's expected out of them; so we'll move forward and I think we're fine."

Kyle Busch Victory Watch

If Shrub had managed to win at least one race at Phoenix I would've felt a lot better about this weekend at Homestead, but now he needs a weekend sweep to better the record he set a year ago, of 21 national series wins in a year: 8 Cup, 10 Nationwide and 3 Truck.

But here's the deal. I initially said I would give up until the math didn't add up and here's what it is. He's at 19 wins: 4 Cup, 8 Nationwide and 7 Truck, and given that his respective finishes were 19th with no laps led, second with the most laps led and fourth with the most laps led, it's still game on.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.