Kurt or Kyle Busch: Who Has the Better Shot at Winning the 2011 Sprint Cup Title

Racin' with Russ: The topic of which Busch brother is better at racing, or more specifically, who has a better shot at winning this year's NASCAR Sprint Cup title comes up among race fans again and again.

Let's take a look at the history of both of these Las Vegas, NV drivers up close and personal.

As a teenager, Kurt Busch got started with Legends and Allison cars as well as Late models, earning numerous wins and titles along the way. After being the 2000 NASCAR truck season runner-up with four victories, Kurt was hired by Jack Roush to pilot his No. 97 Cup cars.

In 2003, he nailed down four wins and finished third in points followed by wins the next year and 11th in title battles. The following year, Kurt won the Cup title just barely edging Jimmie Johnson by eight points.

Since 2004, he’s amassed a total of 22 wins and three more top-10 title runs. Along the way, the current senior Penske driver has put together 81 top fives, 155 top 10's and a dozen poles from 366 starts.

The 32-year-old driver started his racing career a bit too cocky both on and off the racetrack until meeting with Jimmy Spencer’s fist one day and being fired by Jack Roush after an off-track incident with Phoenix police among other situations.

Not one to miss a good opportunity, Roger Penske scooped up Kurt to pilot his Cup cars after some serious work on his people and media skills, emerging as a well spoken and friendly driver, much to the surprise of numerous race fans and fellow competitors.

Kyle Busch’s path to racing in NASCAR mirrors his brothers efforts especially after Kurt ‘paved the way’ with on-track success and thoughts such as, “He’s Kurt’s little brother!”

The brash young driver started making competitive circles in the Legends series at the age of 13, winning two championship while earning 65 trophies. At 16, he piloted some Roush trucks in six events, bagging a pair of top 10’s!

At 17, he finished eighth in ASA competition, followed by two ARCA wins in Hendrick cars and runner-up in the Busch series in 2004, while earning rookie-of-the-year.

In 2005, he was retained by Hendrick to drive the No. 5 Cup car where he won a pair of races and earned his first pole. He was eventually let go by Hendrick after numerous ‘attitude’ mishaps, yet landed safely at Gibbs Racing.

Over the next six years, Kyle, nicknamed “Shrub” and much worse (rat face), has finished in the top 10 in points four times while winning a total of 19 Cup, 44 Nationwide and 25 Truck venues.

Other impressive Cup stats include 67 top fives, 105 top 10 runs out of 224 starts, netting a 15.3 average starting spot and a 16.5 average finish, compared to his brothers 15.9 average start and 17.3 average finish.

During those half dozen years, Kyle has not made many friends on or off the track with an extremely cocky attitude and bulldozer-like mentality while getting to the front. He has punted cars, trucks, boats and planes out of the way in order to win with a take no prisoners attitude. Just listen to any driver intros to hear the overwhelming disapproval of ‘boo’ calls.

When he wins, he’ll be a chatter box with the press and conversely as a loser, he’s known to rip mic cables out of the car, push crew members out the way and stomp off like a five-year-old school girl with no comments to the press.

His on-track methods are often uncharacteristic, wild and unpredictable with dire results as witnessed over this past weekend at Las Vegas when he made a wild move from one side of the track to the other, catching some grass and the wall before coming to a stop and out of the Nationwide show.

Last week, he side-swiped Carl Edwards out of contention with yet another wild move without looking to see who was there. He later apologized, but drivers don’t forget.

This year, Kyle finished eighth at the opening Daytona 500 and was fortunate to finish second in Phoenix, which placed him atop the current standings.

Kurt, on the other hand, has been more consistent with a fifth at the opener and eighth last week at Phoenix after winning the Budweiser Shootout and the Duel 150. Kurt is just three points behind his brother in the Cup standings.

Kurt drives a Dodge for Roger Penske with all top-shelf amenities available for a top-shelf result each and every week. Driving one of the few Dodges out there has not proven to be a determent, but with only his non-performing teammate Brad Keselowski to bounce ideas off of, the resource pool is shallow.

Looking at Kyle’s current situation, he drives one of three very competitive Toyotas owned by Gibbs Racing with racy teammates Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano to compare notes with.

So, who has a better shot to take this year’s Sprint Cup title?

I have to give the nod to Kurt. Yes, some say Kyle’s recent marriage will calm him down, but I think he’s still years away from putting it all together to nail down that elusive Cup from such adversaries as five-time winner Jimmie Johnson, an overdue Jeff Gordon, a very resurgent Carl Edwards and Kyle’s teammate Hamlin who in many people’s opinion ‘blew it’ last year while under pressure….read choke.

Kurt appears to be more calculating, has won a Cup title and that puts him at a mental advantage realizing the kinds of pressures, attitudes and game plans are necessary to pull off the master plan. Will Kyle win races this year? Yes, and so will Kurt, en route to his next title shot.

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill.

What’s your opinion? Drop me a line.