BUSCH BECOMING A (PENSKE) MAN 2005 CHAMPION HAS NEW MATURITY AND CONFIDENCE.

Byline: KEITH LAIR

Staff Writer

Roger Penske is renowned for being cool, calm and collected. He seems to judge his thoughts before he speaks, weighing each world meticulously.

One of his drivers, Kurt Busch, is learning to be more like the "Captain."

That in itself seems like a contradiction. Many may look at the 2004 NASCAR Nextel Cup champion as the complete opposite of the typical Penske man. He's been punched in the nose by a fellow driver following a pair of on-the-track incidents. He was arrested for alleged drunk driving and bad-mouthing a sheriff in Phoenix. His then girlfriend, Eva (now his wife), got into a fight with another driver's girlfriend over another on-the-track incident.

On June 4 at Dover (Del.) Speedway, he got into it with Tony Stewart, which resulted in a pit-row incident. Busch nearly hit Stewart's jack man, Jason Lee, who had to avoid Busch's Dodge by jumping on the hood of his team's car. Busch was docked 100 points, fined a $100,000 and NASCAR officials immediately parked his car, giving him a 42nd-place finish.

No, not the image of a Penske man.

"You take some hits and you learn," the 29-year-old from Las Vegas said. "Working with Roger, I'm finding ways of learning to deal with people. I think I've really grown better. Maybe before, I would want to win for me, and to have control. It was not about the team."

Penske knew what he was getting in 2005.

He signed Busch just days before the Phoenix incident. Busch was stopped Nov. 11, 2005, two miles from the Avondale track for reckless driving, running a stop sign and nearly hitting another car. He refused a field sobriety test and was taken back to the track for a breath test, which he failed.

Car owner Jack Roush subsequently kicked him off the team and Busch, who was heading for a car that was sponsored by a beer manufacturer, could have had his new contract voided by Penske.

"Let me say this," Penske said. "I was very disappointed with the situation that took place at Phoenix because Kurt did not have a DUI, but it was thrown up that way. We've worked with Kurt. I think he sees the benefits. We brought him in as part of the family. Right out of the box, he won a race for us in his first year. I think he has matured as all young men do.

"I'd rather have a guy that I'm pulling on his belt and having to kick in the butt."

Busch said it's just taken time to become a Penske man.

"It's been a year and a half now at Penske Racing, and learning their system, the people, how to communicate with Roger, and of course his group," he said. "I'm just pleased to be here with this team and the way that we seem to be hitting our stride right now. It just took a while in the beginning to communicate and to really be on the same page with everybody, and I think we have that now. So to be as strong as we are right now feels great."

This year, Busch had propelled himself into a Chase for the Championship spot when he had that incident with Stewart that knocked him back to 17th, and right back out of the top 12. He lost crew chief Roy McCauley, who is tending to his ailing wife, tried interim crew chief Troy Raker and then hit it off with Pat Tryson, who had been fired as Greg Biffle's crew chief by Roush in June.

The new team leaders finished third at Daytona, sixth at Chicago and then won at Pocono, which Busch called, "unbelievable," to climb into 12th and final spot in the Chase. Then, he won two weeks ago at Michigan, a course very similar to California Speedway's two-mile oval, site of Sunday's Sony Aquos 500. He is still in 12th in the points, 158 ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr., with two more races left before the Chase field is set.

And unlike the brash Busch, who would knock people -- specifically Jimmy Spencer and Matt Kenseth -- out of the way to get to victory lane, Busch seemingly is now a company man. Yes, a Penske man.

"My approach has been, let's just go race each race to grab a little points, a little bit at a time," he said. "What it takes to get into the Chase is smooth, steady efforts. That's certainly been our approach. I'm happy to fly under the radar, and I'm happy delivering wins for our sponsors, and right now, the most important thing is getting into this Chase."

Busch said the addition of Tryson has been the reason that's he's moved up four spots in the standings since the crew chief joined.

"Pat has filled in what we were missing," Busch said. "He's found that fourth gear. I think it gets back to Pat's experience level. It reminds me of what (Roush crew chief) Jimmy (Fennig) and I did together, where he was confident in his pit calls, and he knew at which time to pit and what to adjust on the race car, and he's a car guy.

"I think the bottom line is he knows how to work on it himself, he loves to tinker with the aerodynamics of the car, and he gets along well with team engineers, but he's not an engineer himself; he's a car guy, and I think that's why we're clicking."

And because they are clicking, they are accomplishing -- or bettering -- Tryson's goal of making up 20 points on the field each race.

"I think we keep in the same mode we're in," Tryson said. "When we started, eight races or so ago, it was to try to get 20 points on everybody around us every week -- behind us, in front of us. That's how I think we've still got to look at it. It's easy to lose 90 points in one day. You can break a motor, you can get caught up in a mess. I think we just need to keep what we're doing, everybody working hard, and keep trying to get 20 on everybody around us every week. If we do that, we'll be in good shape."

That means Busch will definitely be ultra-cautious this weekend, perhaps taking four tires instead of two, or not pushing the fuel mileage envelope. It's as if these two final races remaining in the "regular season" are a championship of their own.

"It seems that way for the sponsors and for the team owner and manufacturers," Busch said. "They want to see their car having a shot at the championship. If we miss the championship chase, and then we go and win three or four races after that, then you just sit there and go, 'What if? What if we would have made the chase? We would be leading the points right now.'

"Each and every week feels like the last week for us, whether we're running for a championship or getting in the Chase. It's been a little bit of a nail-biter; We're not out of the woods yet, but we have a cushion."

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