NASCAR: Kyle Busch and The Glass Slipper. Has It Begun to Crack?

No matter who wins the Sprint Cup Championship in three months or what drama may unfold between now and then, the Cinderella story of 2008 will be Kyle Busch. The man who went from being fired by Hendrick Motorsports, where he was mediocre at best, to dominating this season with new team Joe Gibbs Racing.

At Hendrick Motorsports Busch won four races in the three full season he raced at the top level. His best points position finish was fifth a year ago but he never did and never has serioulsy contended for a championship.

Then came the switch from Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet to Joe Gibbs Racing and the now lighting quick Toyota's. He dominated the season opening Daytona 500 but it took until race number four Atlanta to break into the win column.

Since that time Kyle Busch has been in his own world, dominating and winning in all three of NASCAR's top three series. Along the way he's made fans because of his brash attitude and driving style but also plenty of enemies. Probably resulting from Busch saying numerous times that he would wreck anyone and everyone to win. After all he wasn't racing for points and he would quickly place the blame on other drivers when an "incident" would occur. Richmond in May is at the top of the list, Martinsville and Michigan in the Craftsman Truck Series. Johnny Benson, Ron Hornaday and Kevin Harvick would love to have a one on one with Shrub.

But nothing seemed to phase Busch, he let the critics, boos and beer cans roll off his shoulders. And through it all he's made it look easy and as if he couldn't be touched. Many had him already crowned as the Sprint Cup Champion for 2008.

However, his glass slipper may be beginning to crack and Busch may be beginning to show weakness.

It started in New Hampshire when Juan Pablo Montoya decided he didn't want to be another Kyle Busch bully victim. After the two raced hard lap after lap and the caution had come out, Montoya punted Busch resulting in his twenty-third place finish. Afterward Montoya said, "He hit me under caution, he hit me under green, and I retaliated. Did I go too far in retaliating? Yeah. The only reason I did that was that I was just defending myself."

A week later Busch was able to rebound and win the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona when NASCAR ruled that he was ahead of Carl Edwards when the caution came out, who knows who would have made it back to the start finish line first had the race stayed green.

Then in Chicagoland Busch lucked into a win when the caution came out which allowed him to erase a one second deficit by Jimmie Johnson who had the race won.

Except, the last two weeks we may have seen what the future holds for Busch. Steve Addington and his Joe Gibbs Racing team have said they are just waiting for Kyle to have his meltdown or for their luck to change.

It has.

At Indianapolis Busch finished fifteenth after struggling all weekend and not having a typical Kyle Busch car. And it didn't help that Jimmie Johnson won the race and closed the point gap.

A week later at Pocono it appeared that after starting in the back of the pack and running between tenth and fifteenth, that he would be able to steal a top five finish. However, the thief was caught when he ran out of gas and finished thirty-fifth. The winner was Carl Edwards, which officially announced that Busch would have competition when the Chase started in the form of Johnson and Edwards.

Now if there's any place that Kyle can rebound, again, it would be this weekend at Watkins Glen considering that he's been undefeated at road courses this season.

Unfortunately, on Saturday afternoon things didn't go as planned.

It started in practice for Sunday's Centurion Boats at The Glen Sprint Cup race when early on in practice he went off course and picked up tons of grass and debris on his splitter. Then when he went back out on track he said he felt like something was wrong with the engine. NASCAR didn't allow them to change it and he was only fifteenth quickest all day. But will the motor last for all 90 laps on Sunday?

With practice behind him he turned to the Nationwide race later that afternoon. He managed to keep his nose clean for majority of the race until he caught leader Jeff Burton and turned him resulting in both cars doing complete 360s and continuing on. No harm, no foul, but Burton didn't feel that way and when he re-caught Busch he returned the "love tap"

In his post race interview Busch said Burton cut him off and that he (Burton) should have gotten out of the way because he knew he would eventually run out of fuel. Busch and Burton will both compete on Sunday and both are competing for the Championship.

Kyle Busch holds the key to his destiny and if he will win the championship. It's his to throw away so is he beginning to feel the pressure of the other competitors breathing down his neck and by working harder to prepare his race cars that once seemed flawless?

And will he have to deal with more drivers returning the tap that Busch once gave them? If mild mannered and respectful Jeff Burton went head-to-head with Busch, will others follow suit?

Everone's been saying not to crown him the champion yet and now is the time that could really make Busch a champion by having to keep a cool head and his car intact and on the racetrack.

Call it what you will but Kyle Busch is no longer invincible.