Younger Busch ready to step out of shadow

Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2003 | 10 a.m.

Kyle Busch had heard the whispers from the moment he started driving for Roush Racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

"Oh, the only reason you're there is because your brother brought you up," Busch said of the prevailing opinion among his detractors.

His brother, of course, is Kurt Busch, who won four NASCAR Winston Cup races last season for Roush Racing and is leading the points standings going into Sunday's UAW DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch, 17, drove in six truck races for Roush in 2001 before NASCAR mandated drivers in its touring series be at least 18 years old. As a result, the younger Busch lost his NCTS ride last season and instead drove in the American Speed Association.

On the verge of turning 18, Busch elected not to remain with Roush Racing and earlier this month signed a two-year deal to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. He will run selected NASCAR Busch Series and Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races this season in preparation for a full-time Busch Series ride in 2004.

Busch said making a name for himself was part of the reason he moved from Roush to Hendrick.

"It was time to step out of his shadow," Busch said, referring to his older brother. "It was a decision I thought I needed to make (to) get my own thing going. It's about time to make my own name and make myself noticeable (but) I wouldn't be there if people wouldn't have seen that I can also drive myself."

Far from riding his brother's coattails into NASCAR, the younger Busch established himself as a formidable driver at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he is a two-time Legends Cars champion. In 2001, Busch made the jump to the NASCAR Late Models division, where he won 10 of the 15 races in which he competed.

That same summer, Busch auditioned for and won a job driving the No. 99 Ford truck -- the same one his brother drove in 2000 -- for Roush Racing. In six starts, Busch earned a pair of ninth-place finishes. He was slated to return to the No. 99 truck in May until he signed with Hendrick.

"I was looking forward to joining the Roush camp on the truck side but on the other hand, I looked at my options and I could run in the Busch Series full-time in 2004 (with Hendrick) and I wouldn't be there until 2006 or 2007 with Roush Racing," Busch said. "There's nothing bad to say about Roush, it was just one of my things that I had to go on and do."

Kyle said he doesn't anticipate his move to Hendrick Motorsports to affect his relationship with his brother.

"The thing with the different teams doesn't make any difference between us as being brothers," Kyle said. "We're just driving different makes (of cars) and we're driving for different teams but there's no reason we still can't share that brotherly edge on the racetrack and help each other if we need to."

Not that the situation hasn't already provided for some awkward moments -- especially when Kyle was in Daytona earlier this month for the Daytona 500 and Kurt and Jeff Gordon, who also drives for Hendrick Motorsports, were in adjoining garages.

"It was kind of a weird situation," Kyle said "I was in Daytona hanging out and (Jeff) Gordon and Kurt's haulers were right next to each other. In the garage area, there was a gray stripe on the floor between the garages and we stayed on the gray stripe -- we're not on anybody's side, we're neutral."

Busch is scheduled to make his first start with Hendrick Motorsports in an ARCA race April 11 at Nashville Superspeedway and his first Busch Series start June 14 at Kentucky Speedway.

Before he moves to North Carolina to be closer to the Hendrick operation, Busch will compete in Thursday night's 100-lap Super Late Model race at The Bullring in a car owned by local racing standout Dick Cobb.

"I'm looking forward to Thursday because this is my last race (at The Bullring) before I leave to go to North Carolina," Busch said. "But I'd like to say that if this weekend goes well and everything turns out OK, there might be opportunities for Dick and I to maybe continue on and race a couple more throughout the year."

McMurray started second, passed pole-sitter David Green on the backstretch of the first lap, and steadily pulled away from the field to beat him to the finish line by almost 20 car lengths.

"I feel very blessed to get in a car that is that good because you have to have a great car to have a performance like that," McMurray said. "It's unreal to have a car that good."