January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.
Bristol suits Busch's style
A lot of drivers lose their cool as one mistake - or one mistake by someone else - can bring an abrupt end to their day.
What better place for Kyle Busch to provide a kick-start to his Sprint Cup season?
The brash 25-year-old Las Vegas native has never backed away from controversy. Yet, on one of NASCAR's most controversy-producing tracks, Busch has been a smooth operator.
Only three times in 10 career starts, has Busch finished worse than ninth and he owns three wins at the track, including sweeping both Cup races last season.
With a sub-par performance in this season's first four races, Busch could greatly use a win in Sunday's Food City 500, or at least a strong finish. He is 15th in points and hasn't finished better than 14th yet this season.
"I'm not exactly sure what makes me so good at Bristol. I've just had a lot of success there, but I've also had some misfortune there," Busch said. "Ever since I got through my rookie year I've just taken a liking to the place.
"Of course, I've been able to get some help from my brother (Kurt). He's always been really, really good there."
Kurt Busch owns five Cup wins at Bristol, including one span of three consecutive victories. Both Busch brothers have completed more than 93 percent of all the laps they've raced at the track.
"I think it's a place that reminds me of racing Saturday nights on the short track back in Vegas growing up," Kyle Busch said. "It just seems to be a place that suits my driving style.
"Your driving style has had to change at Bristol a lot. Bristol used to be a track where you could charge the corners a little bit and get it right in and down to the bottom of the track. You kind of would go through the middle of the corner and then slingshot out on the exits.
"Now it's just so smooth that you're easy in, you're kind of easy through the center, and easy off."
There is new wrinkle to the Bristol experience this season.
The speedway recently added some additional SAFER barrier to the track, which will in effect reduce the width of the available racing groove. Already-tight quarters may actually shrink even more.
"We've got the SAFER barrier on the outside wall taking up a little bit more racing room up off the corners since they've run the wall further down the straightaway," Busch said.
"It's taking up some racing room, and it's probably going to make the racing even tighter, and we are probably going to see some more action."
That's not necessarily a bad thing for Busch, who has excelled at the track, or the fans in attendance.
"All the fans love it because of the excitement, the run-ins, the closer quarter action with all the cars being packed on top of one another at a half-mile racetrack with us 43 lunatics running around in a tight circle," Busch said.
"It's going to slow the pace up probably a little bit because we know we don't have as much on the exits to use up. Maybe it will make for even better racing for the fans."
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