Kyle Busch may be out of a job at Hendrick's at year's end, but he's the hottest commodity around. (LAT photo) » More Photos
BIG-GAME HUNTER Car owner Richard Childress was unable to sign Dale Earnhardt, Jr., but his team is hardly hurting as is. The car owner said Saturday that like a lot of car owners in the garage, he's very interested in talking with newly minted free agent Kyle Busch, possibly for a long-rumored fourth Richard Childress Racing car. "Anybody would look at Kyle right now - any team in here," said Childress, who just returned after a weeklong hunting trip in New Zealand. "Kyle's a really talented young driver and I just think he'd be the future of any team that he went to."
Childress, one of the most independent minds in the Nextel Cup garage, is not someone even remotely daunted by Busch's reputation as a hot head. "I can name you eight or 10 guys in here at his age that were a handful. He's learning," Childress said. "Every new experience you get educated a little more and I'd say this has educated him a little more. I think a few of the things that happen to you in your career educate you and make you a better person and a better race car driver."
Asked what he was doing at age 22, the age Busch is now, Childress laughed. "I was wilder than (Busch)," the car owner opined. "I'll just say I had a good time. I still like to. I didn't win many races but I never lost a party, you know."
Of Busch, Childress added, "He's the hottest property on the market right now." In fact, some in the garage believe that Busch's driving talent is equal to or even ahead of that of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
"As far as the talent aspect, he could be one of the more sought-after drivers in this garage area," Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin said of Busch. "For him to be looking for a ride, it's not going to take long. You're going to have just as many owners interested in Kyle as they were in Junior."
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Gilliland: more problems with Stewart. (LAT photo) » More Photos
UNHAPPY HOUR Carl Edwards paced both Saturday practice sessions for the Citizens Bank 400 NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Michigan International Speedway. During the final "Happy Hour" session, Edwards put his Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion atop the speed chart with a best lap of 184.800 miles per hour. Jimmie Johnson, who qualified second, was also second-fastest in Happy Hour, running 184.672 mph in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Third-fastest was Clint Bowyer in a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, followed by Greg Biffle in a second Roush Ford and Kevin Harvick in a second RCR Chevrolet. Brian Vickers was a surprising sixth, best of the Toyotas.
Happy Hour was marred by one incident, which occurred when Tony Stewart tapped the back of David Gilliland at the entrance to Turn 1. "He was going in on the high side so it wasn't like he was erratic on where he was going," Stewart said. "But he never points down to the inside and just all of the sudden checks up and just destroys the right front of our car. So I'm just really curious what that idiot's thinking down there."
"I saw Tony coming; it looked like he was on new tires," Gilliland said. "I tried to stay up as high as I could getting in there, and he just ran into the back of me. So it looked like he misjudged it a little bit."
CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR, SO FAR Despite currently sitting 16th in the NASCAR Nextel Cup point standings, there's no question that Kurt Busch and the Penske Racing squad are one of the most improved teams of the season. Busch has come close to victory on numerous occasions this year, but translating fast cars to winning has proven difficult, as the driver so painfully knows. And it seems every time a Penske car came close, the race ended up being won by Hendrick Motorsports, Busch said.
