The ride of his life

Kyle Busch continues to flourish on all levels of racing

RICHMOND, VA. -- Kyle Busch celebrated his 23rd birthday Friday in a race car, the one place NASCAR's hottest driver truly loves to be.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Busch said during a break in his marathon day at Richmond International Raceway.

And why would he?

Busch can't seem to lose lately, in anything he drives. His monthlong winning streak reached a fifth consecutive week when he jumped into a late model car Thursday night and won Denny Hamlin's charity race at nearby Southside Speedway. Add that to three straight Nationwide Series wins -- he finished third Friday at Richmond -- and last week's Cup victory at Talladega Superspeedway, and Busch is on a roll not often seen in NASCAR.

"It makes you proud to have a teammate like him that's had that kind of success here the last five weeks," two-time series champion Tony Stewart said. "You can see the confidence it gives him, and I think that just helps the whole organization at the end of the day."

Move pays off

Busch already has seven wins this season spanning NASCAR's top three series, and he heads into tonight's race seeking his first Cup victory at the short track. In six previous starts, he has five top-five finishes.

Busch has no explanation for this sudden surge on the race track, which coincides with his move this season to Joe Gibbs Racing.

"I couldn't tell you, I don't know. I'm just glad that it is going well," Busch said. "The guys at Joe Gibbs Racing have been working awfully hard to prepare great race cars. That's what makes my job look so easy is when they give me a good car to drive."

But Busch had really great cars at Hendrick Motorsports, where he spent his first three Cup seasons before the team fired him to make room for Dale Earnhardt Jr. Although Rick Hendrick knew he was a unique talent, Busch could be temperamental and difficult both on and off the track.

The dismissal stunned Busch and forced him to take a good, long look in the mirror. The firing certainly matured him and undoubtedly has played a role in his unbelievable start to the season.

"I think the biggest thing that gave me a perspective ... was that you're never safe where you're at," he said. "There's always a chance of you getting fired or dumped -- however you want to put it. For me, that really put a perspective on things."

'Warm and fuzzy'

His newfound perspective helped him make a seamless move to Joe Gibbs Racing, where the No. 18 team has established itself as the strongest right now of the three JGR cars. It often takes much longer for a new driver to jell with a new crew -- just ask Casey Mears, who moved into Busch's old ride at Hendrick but has just two top-10 finishes this season and is 24th in the standings.

Busch has yet to struggle with crew chief Steve Addington, who clicked immediately with the young driver. The two first worked with each other for two days last October when they teamed to pace the test session at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It just all fell into place, and it all felt good," Busch said. "It felt warm and fuzzy."

Stewart said every now and then, a team just comes together and clicks from the very first day and likened it to his relationship with crew chief Greg Zipadelli and the No. 20 crew. The two were successful from the very start and are now in their 10th season together, the longest active driver-crew chief relationship in the garage.

"It's just a natural fit. Nobody can predict that it was going to happen that way," Stewart said.

"It's the same thing with Kyle and Steve and the guys over there. When you get that right combination, it doesn't take a lot of time for it to jell and become successful."

Now Busch plans to ride it as long as he can. Despite how well this season is going, he's positive he's not yet reached his full potential and said he uses every opportunity in the race car to improve.

But is there really room for improvement for a guy ranked second in the Cup standings, third in the Nationwide Series and sixth in Trucks?

"There's room for anyone to get better," he said. "There's room for a football player to get better -- Tom Brady could still get better, Peyton Manning could still get better.

"There's so many different scenarios and so many different things you can learn each race, each game, each week that just help you."