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Motorsports

Busch is in control, ready for challenge

Kurt Busch has grown up a lot and is expected to contend for the Winston Cup title.

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 13, 2003

DAYTONA BEACH -- The sight of Kurt Busch angrily flailing his arms and patting his backside as the Winston Cup field filed past his wrecked car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway remains one of the enduring images of the 2002 season.

Amusing, yes.

Productive, maybe not.

Busch, the youngest of the young guns storming NASCAR, never faced much adversity on his fast track to stock car racing's elite series. But anyone can handle the good times. To challenge for the championship, Busch will need to handle his emotions.

"There's this drive that I have within, and I've begun to polish it and work on it a little bit," said Busch, driver of the No. 97 Ford. "That might be taking it from 20-grit sandpaper to about 1,000-grit sandpaper. Maybe we'll put some paint on it later on so I'll be a smooth character when things go wrong."

Busch gets the chance today when Winston Cup drivers compete in twin 125-mile qualifying races, hoping to lock in a starting spot for Sunday's Daytona 500. Busch, who won four races last season, starts 15th in the second qualifier at Daytona International Speedway.

Busch was the hottest driver in Winston Cup at the end of 2002, catapulting into championship contention by winning three of the final five races. Busch finished third in the standings, ahead of four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

And he's only 24.

Busch was a winner at every level on his way to Winston Cup, from the Dwarf Cars he raced with his father's help in his hometown of Las Vegas to the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series title he won at 21. In his only Craftsman Truck season, Busch won four races and was second in the standings. Next thing he knew, he was in Winston Cup.

And struggling.

Busch became a teammate of Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth at Roush Racing, where everyone struggled in 2001. But Busch, at the ripe old age of 23, lacked the maturity to handle it and made matters worse by flying off the handle at crew chief Ben Leslie, who at 29 was not much older than Busch.

"In this environment, there are going to be issues of maturity," owner Jack Roush said. "Everything is a challenge and there wasn't a proper amount of respect for how hard things are, or that other people could really care as much. He's got all that passion, and when that passion runs into frustration, it can get wild."

Even last season, when Roush Racing excelled, Busch was prone to outbursts. At Daytona in July, after being penalized one lap for a violation on pit road, he was held for another three for verbally abusing a NASCAR official over the team's radio.

At Indianapolis in August, a long-running feud with Jimmy Spencer boiled over when Spencer tapped Busch from behind and spun him into the wall. During a live television interview, Busch called Spencer a "decrepit has-been" then changed his assessment to "never-was."

"The emotions ran over, but I've learned from that situation," Busch said. "I guess I could have had two or three years in the Busch series trying to understand good times and bad. The bad times were just that much harder for me to understand because I've come up so quick. I've got to understand that you can have bad days and still be competitive at the end of the year."

Looking for ways to revitalize his slumping race teams, Roush switched the crew chiefs for Busch and Martin before last season, pairing youth with experience in both situations. Jimmy Fennig, a 49-year-old with 16 years of experience, whipped the No. 97 into shape.

"Jimmy had to assert a parental kind of control," Roush said.

Busch raves about Fennig, who has one tone of voice for every situation -- steady. Busch looks at the 20-race winner as a father figure.

"That's because I'm old," Fennig said.

"He knows I've been around this sport a long time, so if I can calm him down or steer him in the right direction, that's what I try to do. But he's pretty under control now. In a one-year span he's matured so much it's incredible. I've never seen anybody mature so fast."

Busch's strong finish in 2002 has put him on the long list of contenders for the championship in 2003. Last season he joined Richard Petty, Junior Johnson and Gordon as the only drivers to win multiple races before turning 25.

Is he ready for a title?

"Midway through last season we were back in 12th place and didn't think we belonged there," Busch said. "With the season ending the way it did, if it had continued, it would have been a great test to see what the team was capable of doing. We're looking forward to the season."

And keeping everything under control.

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