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ALL-STAR: Kyle Busch Breakthrough Brewing?
Kyle Busch will start the Sprint All-Star Race from the pole...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 21, 2011   Concord, NC
Kyle Busch is still looking for his first Sprint Cup points win at Charlotte. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
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Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kyle Busch certainly looked like the man to beat in tonight’s Sprint All-Star Race, which will be televised live on SPEED, starting at 7 p.m. ET.

Busch was fast off the truck Friday afternoon, topping the speed charts in the only practice round. He then put his familiar No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota on the pole for the $1 million-to-win extravaganza. And let’s not forget that the wide-open, boys-have-at-it format fits his driving style perfectly.

So that makes him the man to beat, right?

Not so fast, Busch insisted. “I’ve never won a Cup race here so that’s why I wouldn’t favor myself here,” he said Friday during his media availability at the track.

Twice in the last four years, he’s been racing for the victory, only to crash, once with brother Kurt in 2007 — they didn’t speak again until Thanksgiving, under direct order from their grandmother — and last year with teammate Denny Hamlin, with whom he had an angry confrontation afterward.

So if he doesn’t fancy himself, who does Busch like?

“The guys that you would favor I would say would be guys that have run strong this year — Carl (Edwards) definitely — his mile-and-a-half program has been good. (Matt) Kenseth — they seemed really good at Texas. Even (Tony) Stewart’s been good at the mile-and-a-half stuff, too. I can’t remember how the 24 (Jeff Gordon) ran at Texas or the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) — they are always contenders at least.”

Among some of the other frontrunners, Johnson and Edwards certainly figure to be serious contenders. But given the nature of the race, which will be decided in the final 10-lap segment, it’s hard to define an obvious favorite.

“Jimmie runs really strong here,” said Jeff Gordon, a three-time All-Star winner looking to return to Victory Lane in this event for the first time since 2001. “You look at guys that are running good, Carl, the Roush cars look strong. I don’t know. To me, that is the great thing about the All-Star Race is really it can be anybody’s race. I don’t think there is a clear-cut favorite at this point.”

“We’re really fast right now,” said Edwards. “Jimmie is really fast, but the way this race works and the way that short run, the restarts, the pit stops — the way all of that stuff works out — this thing is gonna be a moving target and it’s gonna be difficult to pick someone.”

Others agree.

“Man, I'm telling you there are 10 or 12 guys that have a legitimate shot at winning this and that is no luck involved,” said Clint Bowyer, who will start from the outside of Row 1. “That is just going out and getting the job done.”

Clint Bowyer, pictured here with NASCAR on SPEED reporter Dick Berggren, is gunning for a victory in the Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
“There are 10 of us that can do it right now,” added third qualifier Greg Biffle. “I think my car is fast enough. He (Bowyer) thinks his car is fast enough. It sounds stupid, but it’s gonna be the guy that’s got track position at the end of this thing. The guy out front, with how close our cars are, is just gonna have the advantage. Whoever gets that track position, unless the top groove really comes in during the race, which we’ll have to wait and see, but whoever has the track position.”

Oh, and when it comes down to the final restart, the outside lane will be the place to be.

“It depends on how you’re car is driving really, but most likely you’re going to take the top,” said Busch. “If you took the bottom and that guy got a restart and got you loose through (turns) 1 and 2, you’d basically give the race away. It’s probably more beneficial in order to take the top and make that guy loose rather than yourself.”

Boys, have at it.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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