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Finesse over fire: competitiveness still burns in Kurt Busch, but his keen sense of racing tough and a newfound maturity have put him ahead of the Chase

Sporting News, The, Oct 25, 2004 by Matt Crossman

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"He'd have a stopwatch and tell me to go drive the car one way," Busch says. "Then he'd tell me to go drive the car another way. It would be a whole different feel and a whole different lap time that I'd run. He'd just tell me to go drive the car in different fashions, with the same setup, and then I'd relate back to him what it meant."

Busch put that practice to use as he rose through the ranks to NASCAR's top circuit. "I learned early on I could make my crew chief's job a little easier if I gave him some detailed information or described the car the best way I could," he says.

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In Jimmy Fennig, Busch has a crew chief who builds fast racecars and is nimble enough to adjust to what Busch wants during a race. When they first started working together, Busch described car problems on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being worst. Now they understand each other well enough that the scale isn't needed.

Usually, Busch's observations lead to changes in the car. But not always. Consider the spring race at Bristol. Busch felt his car losing horsepower. At Bristol, a short track, losing horsepower is not the death knell it is at speedways. It occurred to Busch that less horsepower meant less wear on the tires. So he skipped the last pit stop--one in which he would're changed tires. The decision made Fennig mad, but it worked. Busch won the race because nobody who pitted could catch him.

If Busch maintains his patient consistency, nobody will catch him in the points race, either.

RELATED ARTICLE: The brothers Busch.

Brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch are racing for the two biggest championships in NASCAR, Nextel Cup (Kurt) and the Busch Series (Kyle). Kurt is being chased, and Kyle is chasing Martin Truex. Though Kurt, 26, never ran a full Busch Series season, Kyle, 19, has parlayed one stronq season in that series into a full-time Nextel Cup ride next year with Hendrick Motorsports. Both drive aggressively, although Kurt has learned to control his impulsiveness as he has matured. With the caliber of equipment being relatively equal at Roush Racing and Hendrick, time will tell which brother is the better racer. But considering Kyle has his father and brother as mentors, one thing is certain: His learning curve will be faster than Kurt's was.--Lee Spencer

Find out more about Kurt Busch in our licensed Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup magazine at sportingnews.com/books/nascar.

Finesse over fire: competitiveness still burns in Kurt Busch, but his keen sense of racing tough and a newfound maturity have put him ahead of the Chase

Sporting News, The, Oct 25, 2004 by Matt Crossman

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