Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Kyle Busch to drive a Busch car for Hendrick

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2003 | 9:55 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Kyle Busch has an agreement to sign a multi-year contract to drive for one of the most successful teams in NASCAR -- Hendrick Motorsports.

Busch will compete in at least seven NASCAR Busch Series races this season after he turns 18 on May 2 and will run the entire schedule in 2004. The 17-year-old Las Vegas native cannot legally sign a contract with Hendrick until he turns 18 but Busch said he has an agreement for a two-year deal with a two-year option.

"It's a great opportunity to be involved with a team such as Hendrick," Busch said. "They have five Winston Cup championships and two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championships ... so it's one heck of an organization to be involved with."

Busch, the younger brother of Winston Cup star Kurt Busch, said he also would compete in four Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races this season under the Hendrick banner.

Busch joins a team that features Winston Cup champions Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, Busch Series champion Joe Nemechek, Jimmie Johnson and Brian Vickers.

"It's going to be fun teaming with Brian in the Busch Series and having Winston Cup champions like Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte to learn from," Busch said. "Joe is a Busch Series champion and Jimmie Johnson has won at every level. As a young driver, it's just a great environment for me to develop."

Although Busch is scheduled to drive in at least seven Busch Series races this season, team owner Rick Hendrick left open the possibility of Busch running in as many as 17 races. Busch would be eligible to run for the Rookie of the Year award in 2004 if he runs seven or fewer races this season.

"Kyle is one of the best young racers I've ever been around and it's certainly exciting to have him on board," Hendrick said. "To say he has a bright future would be an understatement."

Hendrick is the only NASCAR team owner to win four consecutive Winston Cup championships (1995-1998) and has amassed 106 Winston Cup victories and five series championships since he established the team in 1984.

At 16, Busch drove in six NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with Roush Racing in 2001 before NASCAR instituted a minimum age requirement of 18 for drivers in all of its touring divisions. Busch parted ways with Roush Racing late last month, reportedly after the two sides could not reach an agreement on the length of a contract.

"I have nothing bad to say about Roush ... but I got a two-year deal -- that's what I wanted -- with a two-year extension after that so I couldn't really pass up this opportunity," Busch said. "It was way too good to be true.

"If you think about, just running seven Busch races this year is three years ahead of where I would have been if I was with Roush; they could have held me three years in the trucks and I never would have gotten in a Busch car. This year, running seven Busch races and four ARCA races is way further ahead of schedule than I would have been with Roush."

Busch was to spend the day with Team Rahal engineers and driver Michel Jourdain Jr. getting his seat fitted and getting familiar with the car before taking to the track this afternoon for an hour of testing on Sebring's 1.2-mile test course. Ford stressed that the test is one-off effort and that Busch is not considering an open-wheel racing career.