A rookie no more: Busch looks ahead
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
January 28, 2002
4:16 PM EST (2116 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- Not one for small talk, Kurt Busch gets straight to the point when discussing his rookie season in the Winston Cup Series.
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Jack Roush (left) and Kurt Busch
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"My rookie year was just dismal," says the lanky 22-year-old, his body language wringing with discontent. "It'll be easy to improve, that's for sure."
Busch finished 27th in the final Winston Cup standings a year ago. Not bad, but a far cry from his goal of top-20 billing. Despite his consternation, reasons for optimism abound in the No. 97 camp.
An off-season decision by team owner Jack Roush to switch up the Nos. 6 and 97 crews has resulted in a fresh-faced outlook for all at Roush Racing.
The meshing of old-school philosophy with new-age innovation has reinvigorated a stagnant organization, one that has recently fallen from atop the Winston Cup heap into the perils of mediocrity.
Not since 1996 had there been a season in which at least two Roush drivers failed to finish among the top 10. Jeff Burton was the lone Roush pilot to post a top 10 finish in 2001.
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Busch scored six top-10 finishes in 2001.
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Mark Martin finished 12th, marking the first time since 1988 he did log a top-10 effort. Matt Kenseth, the 2000 Rookie of the Year, weighed in at 13th. Busch doesn't even want to talk about it.
"We're just glad it's over," he said.
Heading into 2002, Busch isn't overly concerned with the fabled sophomore jinx. He feels like the union with Jimmy Fennig, Martin's former crew chief, will be quite beneficial.
"(Fennig) just seems more like a father-type figure with me, where if I get out of line, he's gonna smack me around real quick," Busch said.
In fact, Busch foresees the new mix resulting in vast improvement from both teams.
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Busch's top finish of 2001 came at Talladega.
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"The variety of people I've worked with in the short time I've been here, there have been a lot of innovative ideas that might not be the old school way of doing things, so to speak," Busch said. "Young guys are always looking around, trying to sort out a different line, different aero package, not just doing the same ol' grind.
"I think the sporadic way we do things might help us learn things also, versus the way an old veteran might choreograph things. It's just a wide range of thinking, and I think when you put the young, energetic, innovative person with the old, experienced, knowledgeable person, you can understand a new way of working. That's what we shot for on the 6 and 97."
Despite an obvious lack of enthusiasm when discussing his rookie campaign, there were bright spots for Busch last year. He sat on the pole at Darlington and logged top-five finishes at Texas, Talladega and Indianapolis -- all superspeedways.
"We feel real confident on the bigger tracks, it is the short tracks where we struggle," Busch said. "Road courses, we're mediocre I guess. So if we can pick up the slack there and polish up the superspeedways, we could possibly get a win or two by the end of the year. Which, that's where we thought we should have been by the end of the rookie year."
Busch may not be giving himself enough credit. The Winston Cup learning curve is as steep as any in sport.
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Busch pulled a surprise in September when he won the Bud Pole at Darlington.
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"It is very steep, for sure," Busch said. "It's something you can't really prepare for. The Truck Series can't prepare you for it. The Busch Series can't prepare you for it, either. The experience around Roush Racing couldn't prepare me for it.
"It's something you have to go through on your own. I may have expected a little different (outcome). But for us, now, we're gonna move on and understand what we learned last year, what we did wrong last year. It's going to be easier to apply all that and be better than we were last year. We need to be better than we were last year."
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