Kyle Busch still focused on 2007
Say what you want about Kyle Busch, just don't call him a lame duck. He deserves better.
He's not lame, and he's certainly not ducking his responsibilities as he finishes his season with Hendrick Motorsports before moving on to Joe Gibbs Racing in 2008.
"There's no hard feelings going out on this deal," Kyle Busch said. "It's actually going to be pretty good. I have a lot of friends there. So everybody is really keeping up and being able to keep communicating and hopefully we'll do well."
Kyle Busch has done well.
Since the announcement in June that Dale Earnhardt Jr. would replace Kyle Busch at Hendrick, Kyle Busch has posted eight top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 20 races and qualified for the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup for the second straight year. Five of those top fives have come in the eight Chase races, and he is fourth in points with two races to go.
"If we can finish out the year third in points, then that's going to be pretty respectable and I'll be happy with that," Kyle Busch said.
But there's more.
A second-half surge has produced three Busch Series wins and one in the Craftsman Truck Series. Combined with his Nextel Cup win at Bristol in April, Kyle Busch is now the only driver to win in all three of NASCAR's national divisions in three consecutive years.
Kyle Busch, who was 17 when he signed with Hendrick in February 2003, understandably was hurt when contract talks between him and the only team he has driven for stalled. But he has long made peace with the decision and is determined to close out his tenure at Hendrick on a positive note.
"It pretty much is all on this year right now, and when it turns 1/1/08 that's when you concentrate on '08," Kyle Busch said. "If you look at it, I think I finished in the top five or pretty close to the top five in every Chase race that we've had and haven't had trouble in. I think that shows that I'm not taking anything away from what I've got going on this year to look forward to next year."
Kyle Busch's immense talent - four Nextel Cup wins, 10 Kyle Busch Series wins and five Craftsman Truck wins for a driver 22 years old - has never been questioned. His maturity has. He can be outspoken and childish. At Texas in April - two races after Kyle Busch won at Bristol -- his car was damaged in an accident. By the time his team fixed the car, Kyle Busch was nowhere to be found, and Earnhardt, who was out of the race because his car was damaged in the same incident, rode the final nine laps in Kyle Busch's No. 5.
To his credit, Kyle Busch has worked to change his negative perception. And his Craftsman Truck Series team owner, Billy Ballew, says what people see now is the real Kyle Busch.
"It disappoints me whenever I read something negative about Kyle because I know what a good person he is and what a great racecar driver he is," Ballew said. "He is way beyond his 22 years of age in maturity. He comes here to race and not to worry about all that other stuff. Having him with us is a lot of fun, and he's been a big help to our program overall. So to hear anything negative about him as a person really bothers me."
Kyle Busch acknowledges there has been some change in his demeanor and attitude, but his goal remains the same.
"I guess I've become more forgiving," Kyle Busch said. "I've seen the change and heard the change, but to me, I'm still the same old dude. So I just try to go out there and do what I know how to do, and that's to race cars."
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