Driver Brian Ickler (Left), Director of Competition Rick Ren (2nd Left), Owner Driver Kyle Busch (Center), Driver Tayler Malsam (2nd Right) and Driver Johnny Benson (Right) make up the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series KBM team. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Busch also said that becoming a team owner has forced him to confront some of his own worst habits in terms of temperament.

“Growing and learning with age and mistakes that you make. Sometimes you have to make your own mistakes to learn from the consequences of them,” said Busch, who began racing in the Truck Series while still a high-school student in Las Vegas. “Overall I feel like just getting used to the NASCAR world and everything that goes on here and the business side of things, the political side of things, all that stuff. I mean, I went to high school and got out of high school in three years, got thrown into the big world of these flesh eating animals over here.”

And Busch is hoping the lessons learned so far make him a better team owner and driver.

“I'm not making excuses for myself, but I feel like just by being able to get the right experiences, learn from those, sort of keep them in the memory bank, store them for later on down the road,” he said. “I've already learned so many more lessons just in owning a truck team, how to handle people, how to handle situations, how to handle drama, per se, a little bit more. I always brought the drama on. Now I see what everybody had to deal with when I brought it. Now I kind of get to see some of that from the side everybody else was seeing it on.”

On the Sprint Cup side, he’s hoping to return to championship contention after missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time since his rookie season in 2005.

“I could be better this year,” Busch said. “I certainly hope so. We can go out there and try not to worry about causing so much drama but going after a championship and dethroning the four time champion (Jimmie Johnson).”




Tom Jensen is the Editor-In-Chief for SPEED.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He 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 to discuss NASCAR racing.