Busch says he’ll stop running all three series at once

By Mike Mulhern
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: June 23, 2008

Kyle Busch has finally seen the light.
Yes, it was fun sprinting from track to track to track, to make Cup qualifying in one place, then a Nationwide race in another, and even a Truck race in yet another.
But the Pocono weekend disaster made the point. Pocono to Texas to Pocono to Nashville to Pocono…..
“It’s just not working,” Busch said.
So he’s dropped most of those extracurricular races.
“No Milwaukee, no Memphis, and no Canada,” he said. “In the Truck series, it’s the same it’s been all year long: whenever there’s a companion race, or any other race we can make, we’ll do it.”
But this weekend he’ll be concentrating on Sunday’s Save-Mart 350.
Busch still leads the Sprint Cup tour heading into the race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, but his lead has been trimmed considerably.
After winning Dover on June 1, his fourth Cup win of the season, Busch led Jeff Burton by 142 points and third-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. by 271.
Three weeks later, Busch leads Burton by 32 points and Earnhardt by 84.
Since the top-12 make the playoffs, unless Busch turns stone cold, he’ll certainly make the cut. But momentum is important in this sport, and Busch has lost it.
“We’re not gaining any points … we just keep losing, so it’s not worth it,” Busch said.
“It was all right (while it lasted). Winning races is always fun.
“But when you’re struggling for wins, and you end up crashing, that’s not very fun.
“There’s a bottom line you have to ride, and we’ll do what we can to get some wins. But if it’s just not there for us that day, there’s no reason to over-extend yourself.”
Plus, the idea of criss-crossing the country, from San Francisco to Milwaukee and back, doesn’t appeal to Busch anymore. It is a drag.
“I’ve done the trip to Milwaukee twice, and it’s not that fun,” Busch said.
“You don’t get back (to Sonoma) until three in the morning. Then you don’t get much sleep before the race.
“It’s not bad. It doesn’t hurt. It’s just not worth it.”
And the Sonoma road course is a wringer.
Yes, Busch won Mexico City, but can he back that up on Sunday?
Busch said he probably won’t be a favorite, for a change.
“Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are good, and Denny (Hamlin, his teammate) ran pretty well at the road courses last year, and Tony (Stewart) always has.”
In fact Stewart and Hamlin went one-two at Watkins Glen last summer; Busch, then driving for Rick Hendrick finished seventh, sandwiched between then-teammates Johnson and Gordon.
The Mexico City win was a milestone for Busch, yes, “there’s more competition in Sonoma,” he said. “The cars are different, and it’s a different venue.
“Winning in Mexico was great … but I could have won there two years ago and ended up spinning out.”
And after Sonoma Busch faces the flat Loudon mile: “We ran halfway decent there last year; Denny won a race there. But I’ve just struggled on the flat tracks so far this year for some reason.”