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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: A Tale Of Two Busch Brothers
Kurt Busch qualified second and brother Kyle 38th for the Food City 500...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 20, 2010   Bristol, TN
Kurt Busch (Left) and brother Kyle (Right) tangled in the 2007 Sprint All-Star Race. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
In recent years, Bristol Motor Speedway has been Busch country. But if Friday was any indication, the prospects of brothers Kurt and Kyle Busch are very different heading into this year’s Food City 500.

Between them, the Busch brothers have eight NASCAR Sprint Cup victories at the high-banked 0.533-mile oval, including two last year, when Kyle swept both races in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

This time around, though, the brothers seem headed in opposite directions. On Friday at BMS, Kurt qualified has No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge second to pole-winner Joey Logano after being a respectable 11th in the day’s only practice session.

Kyle, on the other hand, struggled mightily. He was way down the speed charts, finishing 38th in both the 90-minute practice and qualifying. Clearly, he and his team have a lot to do if they want to post a good finish on Sunday, let alone win.

After qualifying, Kyle did not speak with reporters about his day.

Understandably, Kurt was a little more effusive, especially since he won the last Cup race two weeks ago at Atlanta, something that gave his team and especially crew chief Steve Addington a huge shot in the arm. Addington, who became Kyle’s crew chief at the start of 2008, was the odd man at JGR late last year when Kyle missed the Chase for the Sprint Cup. This despite Kyle winning 12 races since he and Addington were paired together at the start of the 2008 season.

“Getting Steve to victory lane was something special,” Kurt said Friday at BMS. “You could see it in his face afterward and in his remarks in the media center at Atlanta. He didn’t want to rub it in or say anything directly, but in his mind and the way that he departed Gibbs Racing, and the way that he jumped over with us at Penske, where you’re moving from a program to another, you never know what to expect. You don’t know all the uncertainties and he trudged his way through all of that during this offseason. To see him win before the 18 car won was big in his mind and I was happy to help deliver that.”

The elder Busch is sold on the virtues that Addington has brought to Penske.

“He’s a smart crew chief,” said Kurt. “He’s going to be in this garage for a long time and the way that we’ve started off, I hope this relationship can go as many years as it can.”

Last year, the elder Busch finished fourth in the Sprint Cup points standings behind three Hendrick Motorsports drivers. The challenge this year is to take Penske’s program, which clearly already was solid, and integrate and implement Addington’s ideas into the mix.

“That’s been the balance that we’ve had to sort out each of the races so far this year,” said Kurt. “The 2 car wasn’t terrible last year. We are proud of ourselves of being first in class against the Hendrick guys. We have our setups, Steve Addington has his setups and we’re realizing that there’s two ways to skin this cat. So we’re trying to balance the best ideas that we’re use to at Penske Racing and what Steve Addington is used to. ... Right now, it’s more of the Penske stuff, but Steve’s throwing his stuff at it as quick as he can get it in there and most of it correlates.”

In fact, it correlates well enough that it Kyle scratching his head about where he was relative to his big brother this weekend.

“As far as Kyle, yeah, he texted me,” said Kurt. “He wanted to know if it was my setup from last year or Addington’s setup and I texted him back and said, ‘Honestly, it was a little of both.’”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEEDtv.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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