NASCAR Cup Series

The Hot Pass: Busch looks beyond 1st NASCAR title

Published Nov. 24, 2009 9:42 p.m. ET

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Nationwide Series champ Kyle Busch was feted in true NASCAR fashion at the Loews Miami Beach hotel on Monday night.

Busch was honored by his fellow racers, teammates and the sanctioning body as President Mike Helton introduced the new champion.

"We've had our moments, don't change and I have to tell you I'm glad your championship ring isn't a guitar," Helton said in reference to Wild Thing's rockstar moment in Victory Lane at Nashville where he smashed up a one-of-a-kind Gibson Guitar painted by NASCAR artist Sam Bass.

Busch appeared more confident than cocky during his speech. Certainly, his accomplishments of nine wins, a series record 11 second-place finishes, 25 top-five and 30 top-10 finishes in 35 starts is evidence of a driver who learned to temper his racing and opt for consistency over instant results.

For Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Nationwide Series team, patience paid off — to the tune of $1,720,000.

"To me, it's a big deal," Busch said. "To Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) it's a big deal. To the guys on the team it's a big deal. Everybody wants to go out and win a championship, but effectively the way that we ran this year — we had good cars every week. Jason and the guys did an awesome job where we went to the race track as a contender to win.

"We won this championship because of that. Jimmie Johnson won his championship because of that. They go to every single race track, you can't tell me one race track that Jimmie Johnson is going to go and struggle at. Legitimately, when you have cars like that that you unload with every week that have a chance to win, the championship is almost inevitable. Don't make your bad days worse. Just get through the days. For us, we had cars that were capable of winning races, finishing second, finishing third and it was the consistency that we built upon that."

As Busch extended his points lead throughout the season over defending champ Carl Edwards, he was able to take more chances. But at 24, Busch has discovered winning involves more than just the guy behind the wheel. That lesson has come quicker to Busch in the NNS than it has in the Sprint Cup Series. However, now that he's won a title in one of NASCAR's top tours, Busch is contemplating how to transfer his knowledge to Sprint Cup

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"All we looked at was consistency," Busch said of the NNS. "I could have drove a little bit harder in some of the races and took a chance to win, but ultimately it was about the end of the year goal and being smart about it. That's where I felt like I learned a lot in being able to just take a finish that I could get and just go with it. Like (the Cup race Sunday) night, I wasn't racing for anything so I'm driving my butt off having to try to win the race or beat Denny (winner and teammate Hamlin), but when I also was thinking about next year, I'm thinking, OK, let's just put in a scenario for instance, Jimmie Johnson is racing behind me and I'm racing that guy for the championship, I have to finish in front of him and right now I'm doing that.

"Five laps later, I wasn't thinking about it anymore, I fenced the car and I ended up finishing behind him and I lost the championship. There's a way that you have to race the races sometimes and if I was just racing for a second-place finish then I would have."

Certainly, missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup was a difficult pill for Busch to swallow this season. He joked that the key to turning his second-place NNS finishes to wins was stealing teammate Joey Logano's crew chief, Dave Rogers. Since the pair joined forces at the Cup race in Texas, Busch averaged a 10.3-place finish.

For 2010, Busch is already devising scenarios to knock Johnson off the championship mountain.

"Put 10 drivers in the Chase instead of 12 and in every Chase race have those 10 drivers be able to work with Chad Knaus in that 48 car," Busch chides. "Have drivers switch cars for the last 10 races. Take turns so at least one race you get to have with Chad Knaus."

Busch isn't detracting from Johnson's talent. He understands the strength of the No. 48 team particularly since he was under the Hendrick Motorsports roof for the first four years of his Cup career. Busch is simply insinuating with today's tight competition the crew chief plays a much greater role in determining a driver's outcome.

"I'm saying that probably back in the heyday it was 80-20, driver-crew chief," Busch said. "Nowadays, its more 55-45 or maybe 60-40, crew chief and car. I think you have to be in good equipment and you can only go as fast as your car will go.

"You have to be smart. I'm not saying that Jimmie is dumb and he just backed in to four championships. It takes somebody to drive the car and to communicate with the crew chief as to what the car is doing. You could have other drivers from the past that maybe haven't made it that could work with Chad, but they may not get the same result."

No excuses

Carl Edwards has heard it all.

He hasn't been the same since he married Dr. Kate in the offseason. He hasn't been the same since his spectacular crash at Talladega. And he hasn't been the same since he found out that the newlyweds are expecting.

So how did a guy that led the Sprint Cup tour for most wins in 2008 go 0-for-38 this season, particularly after Edwards appeared poised to dethrone champion Jimmie Johnson when the season began?

Keeping track

Starts	Wins	Top fives	Top 10s	Laps led
36	0	7	14	164

"We have the same group of people, the same smart, hard-working, dedicated people that won nine races last season and essentially could win at every race we were at," Edwards said. "We just got off track. It's not that somebody isn't working hard. It's not from a lack of effort. We have to figure out what it is that we're lacking and address it with that group of smart people so we can solve the problem.

"The toughest part is figuring out where exactly the speed is. We've had some trouble on pit road and we have worked very hard on that to get better. Phoenix is the best example. The (Roush) Fords were 14th through 19th. We're all getting the most of them but we need more to work with."

Edwards is well aware of the organization's weaknesses. At the Phoenix race he mentioned, the top finishing Ford was actually 13th-place AJ Allmendinger who was in a bastardized version of the Fusion. The No. 44 Ford featured a Richard Petty Motorsports chassis with a Ford nose, tail, hood and engine. Although Edwards was the top finishing Ford Sunday night at Homestead, Allmendinger was second with a 10th-place finish in a similarly prepared car.

Edwards looks forward to the merger between RPM and Yates Racing. He feels it will improve the overall performance of the organization.

Speaking of RPM, Edwards' initial meeting with team principal Foster Gillett was quite entertaining.

On Sunday night in the driver-owner motorcoach lot at Homestead Miami Speedway, Edwards was roused by the sound of his four-wheeler's engine outside his RV.

"I hear my little Polaris Razor start up," Edwards said. "'Who's in my four-wheeler? So I run out the door, and here's these two guys — and I don't know who they are — and they're getting ready to take off. I say, 'Hey, hey, who are you?'

"The one guy — I don't remember who he drove the motor home for — but he was like, 'I drive the motor home for ...' The other guy didn't say anything. (I thought) 'I'm being scammed here. Someone's stealing ...' I almost said, 'All right, go ahead, take it.'

"But I thought, 'No.' I pointed to the guy in the passenger seat and say, 'You — you get out, you stay here, and you (the driver) can go do whatever you need and bring it back.'

"Turns out the guy I made stay there was Foster Gillett, and he was embarrassed. He was like, 'I can't believe this is how we're meeting. You thought we were stealing your four-wheeler. They were taking it because they had to run and go get something from a motor home a quarter-mile away.'"

After a 30-minute conversation with Gillett, Edwards had a better understanding of the inner-workings at RPM. But after finishing just outside the top 10 in the Chase, Edwards is looking for a spark to ignite the entire program. He feels the real coup in the deal will be bringing a young gun such as Kasey Kahne and his crew chief Kenny Francis into the extended Roush Fenway Racing family.

"If you look at what (RPM has) done through all the strife and all the drama, they have the potential to give us that extra tenth of a second and all of us can be winners," Edwards said. "I was really pleased that he tried to steal my four-wheeler so we were able to meet like that. I think it's going to be really good.

"The key will be to be fast enough to keep Kasey Kahne happy so that he stays (after 2010 when he becomes a free agent) and can help us. He's what made that place in my eyes. He's the guy there and the people are behind him. I need to do whatever I can for Kasey to know that we believe in him. I've heard the deal is done and we're moving forward. I hope that helps us."

Staying at home

David Hyder will continue in his role as crew chief with the Wood Brothers Racing and driver Bill Elliott in 2010.

Hyder, 42, is enjoying his second stint leading the historic No. 21 Ford and is under contract with the team through the end of the 2010 season.

"I've really enjoyed my time with the Wood Brothers," Hyder said. "We'll continue to run a limited schedule and build the program with Bill behind the wheel."