All-Star winner Kurt Busch: Can he make things happen in the 600 too? He's not sure

  Crew chief Steve Addington (L) sprays Kurt Busch with victory champagne after winning Saturday night's Sprint All-Star race at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   CONCORD, N.C.
   Formula 1 in Austin, Texas? Um, well, let's see: last week Bernie Ecclestone was pondering a USGP somewhere in the Catskills of New York...and before that, it was through the streets of Las Vegas....
   F1 in Austin?
   On a brand new road course, to be built just for that event?
   Considering what happened to F1 and Indianapolis, this latest news sounds like another pie-in-the-sky deal.
   But then maybe it was a slow news day over in Istanbul, where they're running this week.
   The first question of course is where's the money coming from?
   Building a NASCAR-type race track these days is easily a $150 million to $250 million venture.
   Making a Return-on-investment in a project like that...plus paying Ecclestone the rights fees and all that....
   Yes, certainly F1 sponsors would like the U.S. market. But those years on that Phoenix street course were a disaster...and that 2005 whirl at Indianapolis  was a fiasco.
   And F1 is still looking for a tire deal for next season....
  
   Meanwhile back here in the real world....it's 600 week in Charlotte, and the man who won last Saturday night's All-Star race, Kurt Busch -- taking advantage of that little tiff between teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch -- isn't sure himself just how he might fare in Sunday's 600-miler.
   As strong as Kurt Busch and new crew chief Steve Addington have looked at times this season -- like, in winning Atlanta -- Busch concedes his record at Charlotte Motor Speedway over the years isn't anything to write home about.
He's run nine 600s...and of those possible 3,600 laps, Busch has led just 174. And he has never led in the final 100 miles of the race.
   And Addington says he's not pleased with the inconsistency the team has shown this spring: "We either are feast or famine. It's been top-five or we've been 18th to 20th.
    "That's not what wins championships. It's being consistent. That's what we've got to get in our racecars."
    Maybe more testing....
    Yes, ostensibly NASCAR does have a testing ban, but it only prevents teams from testing at NASCAR's Sprint Cup tracks. They can test anywhere else they want. And they are....usually with some secrecy.
    However  NASCAR's testing ban is starting to raise some hackles. Eddie Gossage, who runs Texas Motor Speedway for Bruton Smith, says that it makes no sense for NASCAR to push teams toward testing at non-NASCAR tracks, instead of letting them test at real Sprint Cup tour facilities. Teams are indeed testing, but it's all somewhat secret...and expensive.
    An example: next week NASCAR teams will be testing a Danville, Va.'s Virginia International Raceway, for the June 20th stop at Sonoma's Infineon Raceway.
   Car owner Richard Childress -- who clearly has a good computer simulation program going now, so important in the period of no testing -- says he'd like to see NASCAR open up testing a little bit, particularly at nearby tracks like this one and Richmond.
   "That would be the way to do it," Childress says. "Pick five or six a year, at some of the tracks that are a little closer to us, where we don't have the overnight stays."
   
    Was that really a laugh that Addington had to hide late Saturday night when Kyle Busch, the man he worked for so successfully for the past few years, pitched another temper-tantrum after getting squeezed by Hamlin?
   It sure looked like it.
   But then Addington knows that side of Kyle Busch well:  "Kyle has his own personality. That's just Kyle.
   "I don't know what would change him...And I love the kid to death. Had a lot of success with Kyle.
   "He has his moments, you know. That's the way it is with him. You guys have got to get used to it.
    "He's trying...I know he's trying, and trying hard to get to where he stays a lot calmer.
   "On the track he's done an excellent job this year of coming a long ways.
    "I was in the position of hoping I would be the one working for him when he got to that point...but it didn't work out.
    "But I'm really happy where I'm at right now with the guy that drives the car I work on now.
    "The biggest difference is being mature...and being through the up-and-down seasons, having the success and having not been so successful.
    "What Kyle and the other guys have over there at the 18 car, I am not in communication with them anymore. I'm not trying to be a smart ass or anything else, but that's my driver right there in that blue suit, and that's all I'm worried about.
    "And I don't think he's as flamboyant as some people, as far as out grabbing media attention. That's one of the reasons me and him get along so great.
     "We're in the lounge two or three hours after practice talking....He has taught me a lot of how to respect a driver who is just truly focused on the team and  cars he's driving.
     "The talent that guy's got is unbelievable. I hope we can win enough races to where he does get the respect he deserves."
     As far as Kurt Busch is concerned, Addington is making a difference. Last season Busch was working with Pat Tryson, who moved over to Martin Truex' team after the season (ironically Truex and Tryson finished second in the All-Star). So it's been a spring of learning Addington's way of doing things.
    And it's been an uneven run so far.
    "What I've struggled with a little bit is just the hot and coldness of it," Kurt Busch says.
    "Tracks we've expected to do well on this year, we've struggled. Yet tracks we've struggled on in years past -- perfect example, Charlotte -- we run well on.
    "I can't quite figure that out.
    "The cold times I can't quite define just yet.
    "But we'll run third at Darlington one week, and then we'll back it up blowing out right-front tires at Dover the next week.
    "Goodyear changes the tires quite often with the car-of-tomorrow. Some tracks it comes into our favor; others, it doesn't." 
    But will Kurt Busch's success last Saturday night here translate into anything good in Sunday's 600?
   He's not sure: "I've got to figure out this race a little better, hopefully having Steve in our camp this time around will be really helpful in doing just that. 
   "I've seemed to always struggle in the Coke 600. But we're really looking forward to it this time around."
    Because Kurt Busch says his team's performance last weekend and his run at Darlington two weeks ago show there's potential this time around.
     "Our performance in the Southern 500 at Darlington a few weeks back is really a source for the added confidence I have," Busch says.
     "That proved to me we can be competitive at the end of these long races that end at night under the lights."
    Kurt's third at Darlington was a personal best. "We were the strongest at the end, and turned in our fastest laps when they counted the most," Busch says.
    One man Busch will be keeping an eye on is Mark Martin, who had a good run going in the All-Star until getting collected in a late-race melee.
   "If you ask me, the 600 always shapes up to be a Mark Martin-type race," Busch says. "He's in superb shape. And if that team can put a decent car under him, watch out.  He can really wheel a car around Charlotte anyhow. 
    "If you throw the endurance factor into the equation, he might just be the man to beat Sunday."
    And Martin has long made it clear that this track is his favorite, of all 23 on the tour.

   

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   Steve Addington (L) and Kurt Busch: championship material this season? Addington has had some title runs with brother Kyle Busch. And Kurt Busch won the 2004 NASCAR title. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)