Busch

So he had one down year. No big deal. Everyone's allowed a hiccup or two in their career. The fact that his came in his rookie year, well, that only bodes badly for the rest of Winston Cup.

After a sub-par start to his big-league career -- a start which rookies were once allowed to have until Tony Stewart began a string of first-year victors and right-away-title-chasers -- Kurt Busch is back on track to success in racing.

He's bounced back from a season with 15 finishes of 30th or worse and seven DNFs to win his first career Cup race this season, score eight top-five finishes and 15 top-10s. He's ninth in the standings and on track to give a speech, as all top-10 finishers do, in December when NASCAR holds its Winston Cup banquet.

"Kurt Busch is coming on like gangbusters," his team owner Jack Roush put it succinctly and, yet, accurately.

Busch, a 24-year-old Las Vegas native, was an instant talent in NASCAR. From his first NASCAR race -- a Southwest Featherlite Series event -- Busch was a hit. In 1998, he won rookie of the year in that series. In 1999, he won the series championship.

He caught Roush's eye and Roush put him in the driver's seat for one of his Craftsman Truck Series rides. A relative no-name from out West, Roush was willing to give Busch some time to grow in the Truck Series. Still, he had a hunch it wouldn't take long.

"From the moment you meet him, you just know he's different," Roush said. "I was impressed right away."

So was the Craftsman Truck Series. Busch won four races, four poles and notched 13 top-five finishes. He was such a hot commodity that Roush couldn't keep him locked into the Truck Series long. One of his Cup drivers, Chad Little, was having trouble in the No. 97 Ford. Roush put Busch in the seat of that car for seven races in 2000, just enough races so that Busch could retain his rookie standing for 2001. He qualified in the top 10 twice in those seven races and had a best finish of 13th.

With little preparation, he showed a natural ability to rise to the top. That's why he headlined a rookie class that consisted primarily of him and Casey Atwood going into the 2001 season. After Stewart had won three races and finished fourth in the championship standings in 1999, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won two races and Matt Kenseth won one race as rookies in 2000.

	Kurt Busch is flourishing in his second Winston Cup season.

Again, the bar was raised for a rookie class, and as the more highly touted of the two 2001 rookies, Busch put a lot of pressure on himself.

"You tell yourself to be patient and just learn, but certainly I was aware of how the rookies had fared before me and I wanted to show everyone that I was just as good."

Busch wasn't happy with how it went, though. He finished one spot worse than Atwood at 27th in the points standings -- and both watched as another rookie, late entry Kevin Harvick who jumped up to the Cup Series after Dale Earnhardt died in the first race of the season, stole the show.

"He didn't talk a lot about it, but you knew he was frustrated with himself," said Kenseth, one of Busch's three teammates. "Even if it is just the beginning, you always dream of getting off to a big start and that's something that Kurt wanted, too."

The entire Roush stable had a down year in 2001. Jeff Burton, who many had tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the title, finished 10th. Veteran Mark Martin finished 12th and Kenseth finished 13th.

This year, as Busch's season has turned, so has the entire stable. Martin is in the middle of the points race. Even though confidence in the voices of folks in the garage has begun to waiver when asked if they think Martin can win this year, he's still third. Kenseth is seventh, Busch is ninth and Burton, who is still struggling a bit, is 14th.

"It's hard to say what the reason is because there isn't really one thing we're doing different than what we did last year, it's just a combination of a lot of little things," Kenseth said. "The biggest area is probably our engines. They've improved the horsepower a lot since last year and that's made us more competitive with the one-engine rule. It's helped us out in qualifying a lot and it's helped us out in racing."

And Busch is a prime example. A dozen starts inside the top 10 have certainly helped his season. Last weekend was just another case of a good starting position helping his finish. After rain forced the field to be set by points, Busch was afraid the car, affected by wildly fickle weather, would not be capable of competing for a top-10 finish. But an 11th-place starting spot offered good track position and Busch guided the 97 Ford to a 12th-place finish. Afterward, he jumped up two spots in the standings.

	“	Kurt Busch is coming on like gangbusters. ”
		— Jack Roush

"We were awesome," he said. "We started 11th off of points and worked our way up to the lead around lap 90. If we could have started further up like where we think we should be in points, it wouldn't have taken as long to get to the front. ... All in all, it was a great day. I was hoping to keep our streak alive for special paint schemes. This was the Rubbermaid Commercial car and we didn't get it in the top 10 like we have with all the other cars."

The fact that he's gotten to a point where 12th place just isn't good enough is great for Busch. He's finally showing in the statistics what Roush and everyone who has raced with Busch has been saying all along -- the kid is special.

"I have a feeling we haven't seen everything he's capable of, yet," Roush said. "He's exciting and he's mature and he's dedicated. I'm thrilled with how he's done so far and very eager to see he can do in the future."

Rupen Fofaria is a beat writer for The Raleigh News & Observer and a regular contributor to ESPN.com