BUSCH ON THE RISE DRIVER MAY BE TOP CUP ROOKIE.

Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer

Los Angeles race fans got a taste of what Kurt Busch is capable of doing at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season finale at California Speedway last year. The 22-year-old Las Vegas driver won the pole, set the track record in qualifying and won the race, his fourth of the season.

Busch also wrapped up rookie-of-the-year honors with his dominating performance at the Fontana superspeedway.

But unlike most of the other Truck Series drivers, his season did not end at Fontana. Busch, who will make his Daytona 500 debut Sunday starting outside row 13, moved up to Winston Cup and competed in seven more races before the end of the season in preparation for his becoming a full-time driver for the Roush Racing team.

Now teamed with whom many consider the best drivers in Winston Cup - Mark Martin, Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth - Busch has to be considered the favorite for rookie-of-the-year honors. And it's only a matter of time before he's considered a contender to win Cup races from week to week.

But all is not well in the Busch camp, despite his talent, his teammates and his car owner, Jack Roush. Busch was rudely introduced to the fickleness of stock-car sponsorship, losing his primary sponsor before the start of the season. Plus Busch will be going from a top dog on the Truck Series to low man on his own Winston Cup team.

Still, Busch seems up to the challenge. In the days before the Daytona 500, the former Featherlite Southwest Series champion looked enthusiastically to his being a part of the most historic race in NASCAR.

``I'm like a kid in a candy store,'' Busch said. ``It's all people can talk about down here. I mean, it's the 500.''

It's been a relatively short journey for Busch to make the ranks of Winston Cup. It was only four years ago that Busch was a pharmaceutical student at the University of Arizona when he was approached to drive on the Southwest Series by car owner Craig Keough. In his two seasons on the regional touring circuit, Busch won rookie of the year and became the youngest series champion, at 19, in the history of the division.

While driving on the Southwest Series, Busch was also working the graveyard shift in his hometown of Las Vegas for the city's water district.

``It was a good time for me to sort out that I really wanted to race,'' Busch said. ``Things have moved real quick. It just seems I have been in the right place at the right times.''

Indeed. Busch made the jump from the Southwest Series to the Truck Series by winning an open tryout for Roush Racing. It didn't take long for Busch to prove he was going to be a force in the trucks. In fact, it took one race.

He rallied from a 34th-place start to finish second in the season opener at Daytona International Raceway last year. In his first four races, he finished no worse than ninth in his No. 99 Exide Batteries Ford. In July, he won his first race, at Milwaukee. Coincidently, it was also where he won his first pole.

Busch would add wins at Richmond, Dover and, of course, California Speedway before the season's end and finished second in points to series champ and Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle.

But instead of staying in the trucks and making a run at the points championship, Busch said he was ready for Winston Cup racing.

``I wanted to be in the top 1 percent of each division before moving on,'' Busch said. ``Jack pulled me aside one day and said, 'If you're ready, I'm ready for it.' I don't regret it.''

But as Busch quickly found out, racing is more than just driving. John Deere, which was supposed to be Busch's primary sponsor on his No. 97 Ford Taurus team, pulled out at the last minute. Busch's team is currently without a sponsor, but there is no plan to disband the team. Team officials have ensured him that Busch will be able to run the entire season, with or without sponsorship. Still, the team hopes a sponsor will step forward before the end of the season.

``It was very surprising for (John Deere) to leave,'' Busch said. ``We got a white car here in Daytona. I am finding out this isn't all about racing. But it's no different to me if we have a sponsor or not.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo: (color) Kurt Busch of Las Vegas, a former Featherlite Southwest Series champion, will make his Daytona 500 debut Sunday.

Courtesy of Roush Racing

Box: NASCAR safety

Knight Ridder Graphics