Passing the time

Sprint Cup leader Busch fills his schedule by also running in NASCAR's other two touring series

(Travis Dove/Globe Photo)

Kyle Busch is running late.

It is three hours before the start of the LifeLock 400 at Michigan International Speedway on June 15 and Busch is 10 minutes tardy for a meet-and-greet function. The 23-year-old Sprint Cup driver from Las Vegas, who has maintained one of the most hectic schedules of any driver in the sport by racing in NASCAR's top three touring series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Craftsman Truck), is racing against the clock.

Not to worry.

Busch loves to race. Be it against the clock or against a field of 42 snarling stock cars. And seldom, if ever, these days, does he lose. In fact, he enters today's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on the heels of winning his series-leading fifth race of the season in last Sunday's road-course event in Sonoma, Calif., further solidifying his position as the Cup points leader.

A souped-up golf cart helmed by Steve Carter, Busch's motorcoach driver, is waiting to whisk Busch from the Michigan track's infield to his 11 a.m. appearance with sponsors in the press box. Cody Selman, Busch's road-weary manager whose primary job is to keep his client from swerving off his schedule, dismounts from the cart and walks to the coach and knocks on the door.

Selman, 24, is asked if being part of Busch's entourage is not unlike traveling with a rock star. "Yeah, kind of," he says. "It's definitely a lot of travel. It's hectic."

A minute later, Busch emerges, freshly scrubbed, his hair neatly combed. He is attired in a crisp, tan short-sleeved shirt with an M&Ms logo, jeans, and black suede sneakers. He dons a pair of black Electric brand sunglasses, signaling to Carter that he's ready to go.

With that, Carter mashes the gas pedal and Busch is off and running again.

Welcome to Kyle Busch's world, where you're always on the go . . . running throttle wide open . . . all of the time.

"I always like being busy, doing something," says Busch, who has been so impressive juggling NASCAR races that, at one point through the second and third weeks of the season, he simultaneously led the Cup and Truck Series points and ranked second in the Nationwide Series.

He retains the lead in the Cup standings (2,408 points, five wins), ranks seventh in the Nationwide (2,093 points, four wins), and 16th in the Truck Series (1,205 points, two wins). Combined earnings: $4,651,313.

All this, in his first full season driving the No. 18 Toyota fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing.

"As young as he is, I think he has a great enthusiasm for all of that," says Gibbs of his driver's withering schedule, which earlier this month called for Busch to compete in three series on three consecutive days.

On June 6, Busch finished runner-up in a Truck Series night race at Texas. On June 7, he finished fifth in a Nationwide Series night race at Nashville. On June 8, he wound up finishing last (43d) after crashing in the Pocono 500 Sprint Cup race.

"Every now and then you run across someone like that," Gibbs says. "Tony [Stewart] is a little bit that way. They want to race everything. That's when they're happy. They get a thrill out of it, but I don't sense it wears him out. I just think it's one of those things with some of the guys who want to be in a car every chance that they get."

Is Busch's penchant to be on the go all the time rooted, perhaps, in a hyperactive childhood?

"He was just my little brother," says Kurt Busch, driver of the No. 2 Dodge fielded by Penske Racing. "You know, he was seven years younger than I was, and he was always trying to hang with the older crowd, with my friends, and doing the things we were doing. So whether it was baseball or radio-controlled cars or racing, in general he was always with tougher competition, and so it made him better as a younger kid."

It made Kyle better, stronger, faster. And, oh yes, more cocksure than anyone he raced against.

"He was a real quiet guy, just like myself," Kurt says. "Our work ethic is instilled in us from our father, and that is just to go out there and work hard and go for those race wins."

It was no different the day before the Cup race at Michigan when Busch woke up to a full day and night of practice, qualifying, racing, and travel between the tracks at Michigan and Kentucky (Nationwide).

He begins the day by qualifying sixth in the No. 51 Toyota Tundra fielded by Billy Ballew Motorsports (for whom he works for free), then runs laps in Cup practice in his No. 18 Camry fielded by Joe Gibbs Racing. He hops out of his Cup car to attend the Truck Series driver/crew chief meeting at 1 p.m. before the 100-lap race at 3. Twenty minutes later, he hops back into his Cup car for the final practice session. Next, he huddles with his crew chief, Steve Addington, and Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Stewart, and their crew chiefs, for a final debriefing session before hustling out to race in the No. 51 truck.

Busch starts sixth and finishes seventh, but not before taking out Truck Series defending champion Ron Hornaday Jr. with a late-race punt that forces Hornaday to spin and drop to 23d. Busch gnashes teeth with Hornaday and his truck owner, Kevin Harvick, both of whom threaten Busch with bodily harm as he makes his way out of the garage area to catch a helicopter to a local airport where a private jet takes him to Kentucky for that night's Nationwide race.

"I don't knock any other driver," an exasperated Hornaday says afterward, "but I will tell you what, that kid has just about done wore me out."

Busch's day, however, is far from done.

In Kentucky, he takes a helicopter to Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, and jumps into his Toyota in time for the 8:30 p.m. start of the Meijer 300. He is credited for starting seventh in the 43-car grid, but is forced to take the green flag from the rear of the field because of a driver change. He leads four times for 85 laps during the 163 laps he completes, but crashes (marking his fifth DNF of the season, all because of accidents) and finishes 30th.

After proclaiming he will not compete in the following week's Nationwide race at Milwaukee because of a conflict with his Cup race in Sonoma, Busch flies back to Michigan, his head hitting the pillow of his motorcoach bed around 1 a.m.

Why does he push himself to such lengths?

"You kind of get talked into some things during the offseason," Busch says. "Billy [Ballew] really wanted to do some stuff and get better and run for a championship. Those guys, they try to run people through their cars - other drivers and stuff - and nobody ever really makes anything of it. They never really go any faster. I'm about the only guy who can get in it and win on a regular basis, so they wanted me to keep going in it.

"Of course, trying to run for a full-time [Nationwide] deal and we had some stuff with JGR and some stuff with Braun Racing and all that was playing out differently, and we're not sure if we're going to go for it or not, but we're going to play it out."

And then there's his Cup commitment, which requires him to begin his race mornings with meet-and-greets with sponsors. Busch readily accepts it as part of the deal, just as he readily accepts the fact he is not universally well-liked among NASCAR fans.

"It doesn't matter if you're winning races, or you know, not really winning races," he says. "If you show a persona on TV or whatever that I guess I've shown, people don't adhere to it. They don't like you. They don't like seeing people that are cocky or arrogant or whatever.

"I guess I've portrayed that a little bit. It's kind of interesting because I don't feel like that's who I am or that's who I've tried to portray. But that's basically the reason why I feel like I'm disliked [by the fans]. It's not necessarily just because of the on-track success."

As he is whisked to his appearance, slack-jawed fans stop in their tracks and point as they recognize Busch. But before they can say, "Hey, it's Kyle Busch!" he's gone. He arrives at a luxury suite, quickly moves to autograph some hats, T-shirts, posters, and a couple of die-cast cars, then does a quick Q&A with the fans and poses for photographs. His smile is just like his manner on this morning, casual and easy.

After posing with a local vendor, his wife, and their three daughters, the youngest, a 5-year-old, climbs into her mother's arms to see if it's OK to ask Busch one last question.

"Sure," Kyle says, disarmingly.

Then, with an equal mix of innocence, sweetness, and warmth that melts Busch like the M&Ms chocolate candies that sponsor his racecars, the little girl asks, "Will you be my friend?"

"Of course," Busch replies, sincerely. "I'll be your friend."

The clock is ticking. Busch, a diehard University of Michigan fan, must get back to his hauler for another meet-and-greet with Wolverines basketball coach John Beilein and his family. But the fast friendship Kyle Busch cements with that little girl proves to be the best part of his hectic day.

Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.