Take Five: Kyle Busch

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 | 9:02 a.m.

Position: Rookie, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series

Born: May 2, 1985

Hometown: Las Vegas

Resume: Graduated a year early -- with honors -- from Durango High School in 2002. Started professional racing career in 2001 at the age of 16 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Won Raybestos Rookie of the Year award in the NASCAR Busch Series in 2004, the same year he finished second in the championship. Made NASCAR Nextel Cup Series debut March 7, 2004, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Drives the No. 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

1. Super season

With two victories, a pole, nine top-five finishes and 13 top 10s in 35 races, Busch is having a sensational rookie season and is a lock to be named rookie of the year in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. But Busch said he isn't completely satisfied with his first full season on stock-car racing's premier circuit.

"It's definitely been an up and down season, for sure," Busch said. "To this point, we've had 13 top 10s, nine top fives and I think there's only five finishes between 11th and 30th and all the rest of them are 30th or worse. We've definitely got to build on the consistency a little bit as far as the finishes go."

Busch will complete his rookie season Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

2. What if ...

Although he has won two races this season, Busch said he easily could have had several more victories had it not been for bad racing luck.

"The first Charlotte race comes to mind; we were leading and running in the top five the whole race and lost a cylinder," he said. "The second Charlotte race, we got the lead and then blew a right-front tire and killed the race car. At Darlington, we were running third and catching the leaders and we blew a tire and hit the fence.

"There definitely have been a few more races that we would have liked to have had back and tried one more time, but I'm sure all the other drivers would say the same thing."

3. No Time

Although his older brother Kurt tried to prepare him, Busch said the one thing that caught him by surprise in his first season in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series was the media, fan and sponsor obligations.

"All the time constraints -- a bunch of stuff with the media as well as the fans and the sponsors -- the times where you're away from home, the travel ... it's obviously a lot different from the Busch Series," he said. "I never thought it would be so hard."

Nonetheless, Busch said, "It's cool the way that everything (has) evolved, and I probably wouldn't change a thing the way this year has gone."

4. Brotherly love

Blood is thicker than water, Busch said, which is why no one should have been surprised when he stuck up for his brother after Kurt Busch's much-publicized run-in with Maricopa County sheriff's deputies last weekend prior to the race in Phoenix, which Kyle Busch won.

Kyle Busch also took some heat for briefly walking out of the winner's press conference in the track's media center when questions persisted about the incident.

"I love my brother," Busch wrote in his weekly column for USA Today. "Sometimes when things happen within your family, you need some privacy. Even though I'm a public figure and accept my responsibility to my team and sponsors, I am still human.

"Could I have handled the situation differently? Yes. Does that mean I can't love and support my brother? No."

5. Sibling rivalry

Busch admitted to having a "friendly" rivalry with his older brother, whom he already has one-upped with two Cup victories in his rookie season; Kurt Busch had no wins as a rookie.

"There are definitely times where I always want to outdo him, of course, but his (Cup) team wasn't necessarily the caliber I think mine is, in his rookie season," Kyle Busch said. "He got a pole and he had some decent runs, but never got a win. I'm able to get two, which is neat."