Bristol Should Bode Well for Kyle Busch

To see Kyle Busch desperately chasing a spot into NASCAR's 12-driver championship lineup with just three races until the cutoff is certainly a surprise.

A surprise, of course, because just one year ago heading to Bristol, the NASCAR Sprint Cup world was on a string attached to the index finger of Driver No. 18 thanks to a commanding point lead and wins coming easier than a rain delay at a recent race.

The 2009 story is much different for Busch thanks to a 70-point deficit from his point standings spot in 15th to the 12th-place cutoff, though fortunately next on the race menu is a track that Busch has had no shortage of success at.

Busch, who won the first ever race for the Car of Tomorrow at Bristol in March of 2007, has been nearly impeccable in the last two starts at the half-miler in far-east Tennessee. A bump and run, though, meant that the Las Vegas native has come with just one trophy in the two-race span.

In the 1,003 laps that have consisted of Bristol's last two short track grudge matches, Busch has been atop the scoring pylon for a total of 793 laps -- meaning that he's failed to lead just over 20 percent of the completed laps despite starting ninth in March and 19th a year ago.

Obviously, it hasn't taken much time for the No. 18 to get to the front.

"We had great racecars both times we were there in 2008," said Busch. "The first time, we had the steering box fail on us and spun us out while leading. And then, the second time around, we had a great car there and we got knocked out of the way by (Carl) Edwards. This year, in the spring, we were able to finally finish the deal and win. It was a good day for us."

Last August, Busch took the lead on lap 55 and held a tight lock on it until lap 469 -- also known as the point in the Sharpie 500 of a year ago that Carl Edwards became impatient. In trying to pass the No. 18, Edwards drove deep into turn one, nudged Busch up the hill and slid by to take the lead.

From there, it was all Carl, all the time because Busch didn't have the car to even attempt a move of retaliation until after the checkers -- and even then, it didn't work out so well. Busch bumped Edwards who casually turned left and spun Busch around before stopping on the frontstretch for a victory flip.

The spring of this year brought redemption Busch. He put his No. 18 out front on for a combined total laps led effort of 378 laps out of 503 that included the winning one for his second win at Bristol.

A similar effort is certainly going to be need Saturday night for the monstrosity of gap -- it's not just 70 points, but its also three other drivers he has to beat in the next three races -- to close and for Kyle Busch to have a chance at contending for a Sprint Cup title.

"We just need to execute and have good runs and put ourselves in a position to get in the top-12," said Busch. "It's really close, with only 100 points separating six guys, so every point counts. We just need to have good solid runs, keep the big picture in mind and, hopefully, everything will work out."

He's started off the Bristol weekend well with a win in Wednesday night's Camping World Truck Series event, and has an average career finish in Cup of 5.4 since placing 28th and 33rd in his rookie season.

Bristol, though, is notorious for mutli-car crashes that seem to snare leaders or others just trying to get past the mess -- much like an eight-car pile up in the race last August -- thanks to a lack of room to take evasive manuevers with the narrow straightaways and pit walls close to the racing surface.

"Anything can happen there and you can get caught up in somebody else's wreck," said Busch. Things happen so fast there that sometime you don't have anywhere to go. It's not like the big tracks, where you might have the apron or the grass to avoid an accident. You just try to get in a rhythm, avoid the wrecks and put yourself in position to win at the end."

A position that Busch, with his deficit from the Chase, certainly needs to find himself in.