In NASCAR there are young drivers rising up through the ranks and come become top drivers of today. One of the drivers who have done that is a well known name of today for the good and bad along many NASCAR fans, Kyle Busch. He made his debut to NASCAR in 2001 in the Truck series with Jack Roush part time at the age of 16 years old. He looked like he was a future star in the making and was going to make a huge mark in the sport but NASCAR made a rule that if you are going to run full time in any of their divisions that you have to be 18 years old. So when he turned 18 he was able to run full time but now in the Xfinity series, or at the time it was called Busch series. First it was known as the the Late Model Sportsman Series from 1982-1983. Busch well since 1984 all the way to 2007. No not after Kyle Busch or his brother Kurt it just happened to be named that at the time. 2008-2014 it became Nationwide and today since 2015 is known as Xfinity. Anyway in his first race he was complemented like crazy by his crew chief Lance McGrew and by a young Cup star and the 2001 champion of the Xfinity series Kevin Harvick who said Kyle looked like a veteran out on track. And he was running up in the top 10 for most of the race until his engine overheated with 20 laps to go getting him a 24th place finish. This meant he was well 24th in the standings 99 points behind Cup star Dale Earnhardt Jr. For the record, Cup drivers could would be able to run for points in the Xfinity and Truck series all the way until 2010 resulting in a few years especially in Xfinity that Cup drivers would run the whole season but in 2004 no Cup driver would run the entire schedule except for Greg Biffle the former Xfinity and Truck series champion. I know what a lot of you are also probably thinking, "How is he that far behind already?" From 1975-2010 the points were very different in NASCAR in general. The points value was this from the top of the screen 2nd to the bottom of the screen 43rd

The winner points were tweaked over the years however, 1st place got 175 points during 1975-2003, 180 for 2004-2006, and 185 during 2007-2010. Also if you lead a lap or more you get 5 extra points but if you lead the most laps in a race you get 5 more bonus points. So that's the explanation of the points system for future episodes in these years but anyway let's get back on topic in 2004. The 2nd race took place at Rockingham, also known as "the rock". He began the race in 14th and drove up to the top 10 but while racing with Ron Hornaday Jr he'd get a flat left rear tire forcing the 5 to the pits. He'd got trapped a lap down but a quick caution allowed him to get back on the lead lap and to a 7th place finish. At Las Vegas he'd start 10th but ran between 4th-8th for most of the race, but Casey Atwood blew an engine forcing a caution to come out. You'd think Kyle was trapped a lap down again but here is the thing, he is but he isn't. Back then for a long time in NASCAR the wave around rule did not exist so if you were a lap down and you stayed out you restart ahead of the leader putting yourself on the tale end of the lead lap. And another thing if you were still a lap down or more you restart on the driver's left and lead lap and tail end of lead lap cars restart on driver's right. So Kyle Busch is in 13th position but he, along with others need a quick caution to come back behind the leaders. Fortunately for them they got it. So Kyle spent the rest of the race trying to get back all the ground he lost, he would successfully get up to 7th with 20 laps to go. Or at least he was until be got penalized for jumping the restart. In result he finished 15th. At Bristol was mediocre for most of the race until all of this happened

Never mind Martin Truex Jr getting his first Xfinity win racing for Dale Jr but Kyle Busch finished 3rd through all of that chaos. It helped the 18 year old get up to 8th in the standings. At Texas Kyle Busch and the 5 team was on another level in general with Kyle getting his first career pole and dominating the race only being challenged by Matt Kenseth last year's Cup champion. But when the 5 faded he finished in 2nd after leading 147 of 200 laps. But he skyrocketed up to 4th 74 points behind 1994 Xfinity champ David Green. At Nashville Busch ran in the top 5 once again but was trapped a lap down by a yellow flag once again but he was the first car one lap down so everything is fixed right? Nope because things were confusing, he was supposed to be at the tail end of the longest line but when he tried to some of the slower cars refused to pass him so he had to make a pass through penalty. He did that and miraculously stayed on the lead lap because of Ron Hornaday spinning in turn 4. That stroke of luck got him in contention for his first Xfinity series win with 5 to go a long snake of cars took the green flag. Also, there are no lapped cars to deal with due to the race having 10 laps or less remaining so the leaders can just battle it out.

Btw there was no green white checkered or overtime attempt because that rule was not used yet in this series until mid July. But after all that Busch finish 6th now 61 points behind Michael Waltrip. He then sprung up results of 4th at Talladega, 7th at Fontana, and 5th at Gateway. Kyle Busch has scored 6 consecutive top 10s. 4 of them top 5s propelling him to 3rd 29 points behind Martin Truex Jr. At Richmond he began the race on pole and lead early on. He rarely gave up the lead throughout the race and even against a Xfinity star like Bobby Hamilton Jr or a Cup young gun like Jamie McMurray. Even though at one point they lead they fell out of contention by either fading late or wrecking out. But it still isn't going to be easy with a 3 lap sprint to the finish. And he has to hold of Greg Biffle. The 60 car was nipping at the back bumper of the 5 car but the kid pulled it off. After leading 236 of 250 laps Kyle Busch who turned 19 recently he claimed his first career victory. Nice, and you know what's also nice? Leading the championship standings. It was only by 15 but it's a point lead. It only lasted a week because he finished 10th after leading the first 54 laps and slow pitstops at the final race in Nazareth. Heading to Charlotte or Lowes Motor Speedway as it was called at the time he obviously wanted to do well cause well his sponsor is Lowes. He'd do them well by running up in the top 5 for most of the race. Then with adjustments Busch was able to take the lead at lap 80 from Jason Leffler. He then dominated the second third of the race until the 1992 Xfinity champion Joe Nemecheck got past him. It looked like the 5 car was going to be a runner up until 18 to go when the race leader spun out. Joe just spun out randomly so Busch just gets the lead back and then runs away with the lead! Fuel was going to be a deciding factor in this race so it wasn't so straight forward but Kyle didn't need any worry because he coasted around to the victory lane after spending 93 of 200 circuits in the lead. With his 2nd win he now had a 38 point advantage over Truex. Kyle's points lead was shrunken down to 13 after finishing 5th at Dover which literally took 3 days to finish because of rain. For the Nashville night race he was one of the fastest cars of the night. But fuel mileage became an issue and when the fuel pressure on the 5 car dropped it dropped his chance of victory in the grass. Literally, he spun trying to get back to the pits for gasoline but it all just fell apart with a 17th after leading 60 laps. This race also cost him not only his streak of top 10s which was 10 but the points lead also to Truex Jr by 40 now. At the Bluegrass state aka Kentucky the 5 car was set up great at the start from 2nd. Unfortunately he had to start at the back because he wrecked his primary car. It isn't the first time actually that he crashed a car in a race weekend but it hasn't stopped him before. In fact before lap 45 he cracked the top 10. The next 100 laps he would be in the top 5 as the field was beginning to make their final pitstops but when Johnny Benson Jr blew a right front tire he was able to make his pitstop under caution and now is able to restart 4th with 13 laps to go. On the restart he made quick work of David Stremme and with 10 to go he passed Leffler and now all he has to do is hunt down Greg Biffle. In Richmond he had to hold off a charging Biffle and now at Kentucky the roles are reversed. But Kyle Busch would not be denied by getting underneath the 60 car to take the lead and win the race! Leading only 3 laps he got win number 3 of the season and his career now trailing Truex by 10. Before the end of the first half of the season and it looks like a duel between Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr for the championship. It would not swing to Busch's favor in Milwaukee however. He may have qualified 4th but he fell back like a rock. Why? Because he spun out on qualifying taking some life out of the tires and because the team didn't want to take a penalty and start in the back he fell 2 laps down in 28th position. When he got fresh tires on the car he could only rebound to 16th. Could have been worse, he only lost 18 points to Truex. Daytona would provide a 11th which created a more serious blow in the points with Truex finishing 3rd separating the 2 drivers by 68. At Chicago Kyle Busch qualified 2nd with good tires this time, no spins on them. Anyway the 5 was one of the favorites to win the race especially when Bobby Hamilton Jr DNFed only 8 laps in. So Kyle Busch would lead for a stretch of the race but would be forced to pit after a flat tire. And to make matters worse the caution comes out and he's trapped a lap down. Luckily though after a caution for debris from Truex getting loose putting Stremme in the wall and basically almost ripped off his rear bumper put him back on the lead lap. And eventually with 60 laps to go he'd get back up front........until he lost a cylinder and fell all the way back to 12th. But he was only 52 points back after Truex's struggles. In New Hampshire Kyle Busch had a solid day going running in the top 10 for most of the race. But it didn't come without a little bit of controversy. First this

Well, that was very unfortunate. You don't want to take a guy out like that but on the camera it looked like there was nothing Kyle Busch could do and through all of that probably not the way he wanted to gain points on Truex. And then this happened.

So after that he went from 52 points behind the 8 team to now be 94 back. Things would only look worse after Truex dominated the race to finish 5th while Busch finished 17th at Pikes Peak after spinning out late in the race leaving the weekend 142 points behind now. So in the next race at Indianapolis Motorsports Park, Kyle Busch needed to stop the bleeding. He would begin the race in the top 10 and would run there for most of the night. Truex however would spend the race playing catchup after jumping the initial start of the race so Kyle needed a solid race to gain on the 8. Making his last pitstop at lap 112 set him up to make it to the end of the race without stopping again but it also meant others would come back with fresher tires later. This strategy would get Busch to the lead and would have to hold off a charging Johnny Sauter who's tires were 19 laps fresher. But he did it, after leading the last 44 laps Kyle Busch picked up his 4th victory of the season and reduced the gap to 117 points while Truex finished 4th. Michigan the two championship contenders would start side by side and contend against each other for the lead. But the 5 car would win out and rarely give it up since. But after a decision to pit for tires he would restart in 9th with 34 laps to go, but 4 laps later he'd take the lead. And despite a late caution for debris he would lead 87 of 125 laps to get his 5th win of the season by 3.8 seconds over 2nd. With Truex finishing 3rd 97 points separated the two. The 5 team hoped to continue slowly and steadily close the gap at Bristol. And that's what happened with a 3rd place run from Kyle Busch while Martin Truex Jr got 7th decreasing the gap to 78 points. Things were getting close between these two drivers with 10 races to go till a champion is crowded at Homestead. 2 young drivers undoubtedly rising stars hungry to best each other and place their names as a champion in the series that would accurately apply the slogan "where names are made" as they seek glory for their careers to perhaps one day be in the Cup series. These last 10 races would see some shuffling in the points gap, Busch would finish 9th at California with Truex 6th he lead now by 95. The 5 car would be at P5 at the sight of his first career win with Truex 3rd so Busch is now 105 points off the lead. At the monster mile known as Dover definitely provided a monstrous performance for Kyle Busch in a bad way. After starting 4th he would witness Truex lead a lap getting the 8 car 5 bonus points while the 5 would fall back and struggle to stay in the top 10 while Truex ran in the top 5. He was also at the end of the race was about to lose a lap to the leaders running in 13th, but somehow he finished 9th while Kenny Wallace and Greg Biffle ran out of has and tire problems from Stacy Compton and Casey Mears. But Kyle was officially 152 points behind after Truex won the race. So going to Kansas Kyle is gonna need to be contending for the victory and get all of the points he can after losing all of the ground he gained in the span of Indianapolis to Bristol. But after a cut was found on the left front of Kyle Busch's tire he had to start from the back while Truex Jr was 2nd and was instantly trying to get those 5 bonus points for leading a lap. Lap 2 and Truex is racing hard against Robby Gordon trying to get that lap lead but failed to do so now trying to get back to the bottom..............................

.......and Truex goes around! Martin Truex Jr gets a tap from Ron Hornaday Jr and slams the rear of his car in the wall! The championship leader after trying to get those 5 crucial bonus points is now in a race JUST to get back out on the track and minimize the damage done to his points lead, now this is a massive opportunity for Kyle Busch to make up a lot of the gap he was behind the 8 team. By lap 80 he was just inside of the top 10 and even though there is a long way to go in the race the 5 team need to just keep their nose clean and a gain of around 80-100 points plus is in his future. While Truex gets back out on track just making laps.

Now Kyle Busch crashes! Unbelievable! Kyle Busch is now behind the pit wall repairing his damaged race car, after looking to range himself from 46-62 points behind the 8 team with 6 races to go in the season is now also in damage limitation mode! Kyle Busch finished 29th, one spot ahead of Truex. And now after that he is 149 points behind now. Next up was Charlotte where the entire 5 team hoped for a repeat of the May race where they won and gained a bunch of points on Truex. Early on he was in the top 10 while Truex was in the top 5. But as halfway approached Busch speed up, lap 103 of 200 and Kyle Busch was up to the lead and right now is looking like a star out there. And so does Patrick Star from Spongebob, this race is sponsored by the Spongebob SquarePants movie so Hendrick Motorsports did a special paintjob with Patrick Star on the hood of Kyle Busch. What makes is funnier is that Cup star Jimmie Johnson had Spongebob on his car and the two raced up through the field from 18th and 20th to 1st and 2nd. The yellow flag was out for debris setting up some pitstops. Split strategies were used by the field on this occasion as most of the field including Kyle Busch is going to try to set themselves up to make it to the end without pitting. The 5 guys did Kyle well, even though he lost the lead he was going to come off maybe 3rd or 4th out of the guys that pitted but he makes contact with Mike Bliss! Kyle Busch makes contact with the number 20 car of Mike Bliss at the end of pit road damaging the right front fender of his car! And he is definitely frustrated with this to say on the radio "Look at the right front. 8 car squeezed me into the 20. Well that's what you get from a championship contender!" Frustration is definitely high right there with a car capable of winning. It looked like the 8 and 5 were racing each other and then were taken of guard when Bliss slowed down right in front of them. For Busch the damage was done and now he is going to restart in 26th place. So he would have to try to make up all of the ground that he lost from that incident. He drove his way back up to 5th one spot ahead of Truex. Busch still had 144 points to make up to the 8 team and things between them in the pits got tense. But even though it was tense things were worked out by the next race at Memphis. Truex was on pole while Busch started in 11th. Truex would be leading laps while the 5 worked his way into the top 5. However with strategy shifted the field for most of the day. Eventually Busch was able to get the lead from the dominant 8. But the strategy put Kyle on older tires which not only cost him the lead but any chance of a good finish, he finished 14th while the 8 went on to win the race. Just exactly what Busch didn't need. He at this point needed a miracle to make up 208 points to win his first Xfinity championship. But the championship was the last thing on everyone's mind at Atlanta. After the Cup race at Martinsville the next day it was revealed that on the way there that a private airplane carrying 9 people associated with Hendrick Motorsports and Tony Stewart's air pilot disappeared from the radar, it was revealed soon afterwards that it crashed killing everyone onboard. Crumbling. One of the many words to describe this, especially for Hendrick Motorsports. Tony Stewart's air pilot was a US veteran who was going to return to duty at the end of the year but unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. Here is a little bit about the Hendrick folks who lost their lives. May they all rest in peace.

As devastated everyone was they knew if they were still here they'd want them to go race. Kyle Busch ran in the top 5 for most of the day and lead a little bit of the race. As the race headed towards the closing stages Truex was spun around trying to avoid a wreck in turn 4. Crew chief Lance McGrew told Kyle about the big picture that this could be the beginning of a comeback in the championship battle, however Busch responded that he didn't care and that he just wanted to win the race. And he was pressuring the defending Cup champion Matt Kenseth hard but couldn't get by him. A green white checkered gave Kyle Busch one last chance to get by the 17 but the 19 year old came up just short. The disappointment and emotion was real in his brief interview as all he dejectedly said was "I didn't have enough, the 17 beat us." But as much as he wanted to win for the Hendrick Motorsports family they were able to start the healing process the following day in the Cup series with Jimmie Johnson holding off Mark Martin in a nail biting finish. In regards of Xfinity with Truex recovering to 9th the gap Busch was behind is now 176 points. At Phoenix he would start on pole and dominate the race doing everything he can to keep his hopes alive but after leading 151 of 200 laps finished 2nd to Jamie McMurray while Truex finished 3rd. At Darlington there clinching scenarios for Truex should the 5 car slip up. Due to qualifying being rained out Truex and Busch would be on the front row. Early on Busch was running in 3rd setting up Ron Hornaday Jr for a pass while Truex was 5th. And things just make a turn for the worse for the 5 team by getting in a wreck with Hornaday while trying to get past in turns 1 and 2. Busch had a run and clipped Ron and while he was trying to save the car hit Kyle Busch. So in an attempt to try to salvage points Kyle stayed out on old tires after a competition caution. It did not work whatsoever, he lost a lap very quickly and if his championship hopes weren't over before today they definitely were after trying to just survive lost control of his car and crashing into the wall. So he ended the day 37 laps down in 33rd while Truex ended the day in 4th claiming his first Xfinity championship. At Homestead Kyle Busch who finished 3rd in the season finale. It was a disappointing end to a great season. When it was all said and done he finished 2nd in points 230 behind Truex Jr. But that was not the end of Kyle Busch, he was elevated to the Cup Series in 2005 to become the rookie of the year and since he is one of the most successful drivers in the top 3 NASCAR touring series'. As of September 23rd 2019 he has 56 wins in the Truck series the most of series history and even owns a Truck team known as Kyle Busch Motorsports. He actually had an Xfinity team from 2012-2013 but he decided to just focus on developing talent in the Truck Series. In Xfinity he also has the most all time wins in at 96. He did win the championship 5 years later in 2009 however it was not with Hendrick Motorsports but with Joe Gibbs Racing. He has been racing for that organization since 2008 and in 2015 he came back after missing the first 11 races of the season after breaking his leg and foot in an Xfinity crash at the season opener in Daytona to win his first Cup championship. He currently is tied for 9th in the all time wins category with Rusty Wallace both with 55 victories. With the competitive spirit that Kyle Busch has shown over the years he probably wonders what if he never wrecked at Kansas? What if he wasn't on old tires late at Memphis? What if he never had a miserable race at Darlington? With what he's accomplished this is one of the rare times anyone Kyle Busch wonders what might have been.