Busch, finally 18, ready for debut

CHARLOTTE, N.C.

yle Busch is finally turning 18, and all he wants is a new stock car and to establish his own identity. He'll get both wishes -- a year and a half behind schedule.

NASCAR put the brakes on his career in December 2001 by implementing an age minimum of 18 for competitors in its top three series. Busch, the younger brother of NASCAR sensation Kurt Busch, will get the green flag to go racing again on Friday, when he celebrates his birthday.

"It's been a long time coming," Kyle Busch said. "Ever since I got kicked out of trucks I have been counting down the days until my birthday. Now that it's finally here, I couldn't be more excited."

He'll still have to wait to make his Busch Series debut, though.

His first race isn't until May 25 at Lowe's Motor Speedway when he'll drive a car owned by Winston Cup driver Joe Nemechek -- his new teammate at Hendrick Motorsports.

"I could have run this weekend at Richmond on my birthday," he said. "But since I don't turn 18 until the day of the race, I wouldn't have been able to practice or get ready. So Charlotte is real close and I'll just have to wait a little longer."

Getting early looks

Kyle Busch was a budding talent whom most car owners had their eye on two years ago. Jack Roush, who fields Kurt's Winston Cup car, had him under contract in 2001 and planned to have him run the entire 2002 season in the Craftsman Truck Series.

But the agreement was voided in December when the age requirement was passed.

"That was pretty devastating for him, for our entire family," Kurt Busch said. "Here he was ready to go, he'd done everything he needed to race full-time, and then NASCAR said he couldn't.

"We hoped he could get grandfathered in, but he wasn't allowed to race and it was a difficult pill for him to swallow."

So Kyle, who graduated with honors from his Las Vegas high school a year early so he could focus on racing, was stuck waiting for his birthday while running in low-level series.

He finished eighth in the American Speed Association championship points as a rookie in a car Roush helped fund, and the plan was for him to re-sign with Roush this year and finally run the truck schedule.

But he raised eyebrows across the garage in February by choosing not to join Kurt at Roush Racing and instead sign with rival car owner Rick Hendrick.

"We talked to Kurt about it and he kind of stepped back and didn't want anything to do with it," Kyle said. "He said, 'It's your decision, it's your career. You are either going to help it or hurt it."'

Going his own way

Ultimately, it was idea of establishing his own identity that helped him make the decision.

"I needed to step out of the shadow of Kurt and say, 'Hey, I'm my own person out here. I'm Kyle Busch,' " he said. "Everything Kurt has ever driven, I've followed his steps right into that car. It was kind of like Kurt was leading my way and I was going to follow him up into a Roush Cup car.

"I need to be own person and make my own way and show everybody that I can drive."

Kyle is already proving he can drive, setting a track record in qualifying at Nashville during qualifying for an ARCA race in April then following it by winning the event in his first race in a Hendrick car.

Now Hendrick, who fields cars for Winston Cup champions Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, as well as Jimmie Johnson, Nemechek and a Busch Series ride for 19-year-old Brian Vickers, thinks Kyle Busch is going to be the next NASCAR superstar.

"He was mature way beyond his years," Hendrick said of his first meeting with Busch at a race in Phoenix inNovember. "He handled himself so well, and I already knew he had tons of talent, so he seemed a lot older than he was."

Kyle Busch has been training for this day his entire life. He grew up racing and teaming with Kurt to dominate the local ranks with his eye on the ultimate goal of following Kurt into Winston Cup racing.

But the one area where Kyle truly wants to break away from his brother is in attitude. He's seen Kurt hit many speedbumps on his way to stardom and wants to learn from those lessons.

"I always copied him from how he was racing, he's always been my role model and I always learned from him," Kyle said. "But he's had a couple of off track occurrences, had some ups and downs.

"My dad will tell you we both have had the same temperament, so I need to learn from how Kurt has done things to handle myself better and avoid some of those ups and downs he's had."