BUSCH STILL CHASING THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

Kurt Busch can count himself among the survivors after the race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. He finished eighth in the race and maintained his position in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Chase for the Championship.

That's more than Jimmie Johnson or Mark Martin can say this week.

Johnson went into Talladega as the Chase leader and left in fourth place, 82 points out of first.

Of course, after causing one of the huge wrecks that have become all too common at Talladega, Johnson was lucky to come out alive.

Martin took the biggest hit, coming into Talladega in fourth place and leaving ninth in the Chase standings.

Both Johnson and Martin could not avoid the drafting debacles that Talladega always creates. They were caught up in crashes that ended their race and perhaps their Nextel Cup Series championship chances.

Busch, the defending Nextel Cup Series champion, had nowhere to go but up. He came into the Talladega race 10th and left in 10th, but at least he's a little closer to ninth place and Martin, his Roush Racing teammate.

In a recent teleconference, Busch talked about what he needs to do to get back in the Chase, testing and preparing for the race at Lowe's Motor Speedway and seeing younger brother Kyle Busch challenge for a second win in his rookie season.

Kurt Busch came out of Talladega with his car in one piece, his spirits high and his hopes firmly focused on Kansas Speedway, site of Sunday's race.

The Kansas race was pivotal for Busch during his championship run a year ago. Even though he finished sixth in last year's race at Kansas, Busch said his team had to rally through adverse conditions to give him a race car that could make it to the end of the race.

``We were in the Chase and that race is about halfway and after we came out of Kansas we had the points lead,'' said Busch, driver of the No. 97 Ford Taurus for Roush Racing. ``It was a new solid feeling that we had. Our car wasn't that great and we had to make some big changes during the race. We turned a 15th-place car into a sixth-place finish. And, when you take a bad car and make the changes you need to finish well, that's what makes you a championship contender.''

He might need a comparable effort at Kansas this time around to get back in the Chase hunt.

Looking a little further ahead in the Chase, Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina has become a critical track. The Cup drivers visit the track on Oct. 15 for the only night race in the Chase, but several of them have been testing there in recent weeks for a number of reasons.

In Busch's case, his team ``struggled really bad'' in the spring race at Lowe's and he wanted to see if his team could make any changes to the car before the race.

But the recently repaved track surface at Lowe's has been the motivating factor for most of the test sessions.

Tony Stewart, the new Chase leader, and Greg Biffle, fifth in the Chase standings, met disaster in recent tests at Lowe's. Both drivers came away with wrecked cars after trying out the new surface. Busch said it's not the same surface the Cup drivers are used to at Lowe's.

``We were pitted right beside Greg Biffle and we saw his cars come in and we saw some of his notes, and he was on the very aggressive side of his setup,'' Busch said. ``When you're on that ragged edge, sometimes you step over it very easily. We looked at it as a test to make the car handle better and not necessarily go for the speed. Greg and Tony both have a couple wrecked race cars and they were just looking for too much speed.''

It might be something for the Cup drivers to consider.

``To see the speeds that were coming out of our test, the track is definitely really fast,'' Busch said. ``They've created a never-ending cycle there, once they ground the track, it wasn't right so they had to re-grind it and it's still not exactly right. So, the next thing is to repave it and we all know that means even higher speeds. Whatever they do, we're going to do the best we can to gain the points.''

Two weeks ago, Johnson looked like he was in control of the Chase. He won the race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway in Delaware and jumped into the Chase lead. His closest competitor that day was his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Busch, who won the first race of his Cup career at California Speedway in September.

Big brother Kurt got knocked out early at Dover, but he became Kyle's biggest fan, especially near the end of the race.

``It's been fun to see him grow as a driver and be in contention for wins,'' Kurt Busch said. ``With his win in Fontana, he was on the Oprah show and he's been all over the country. To see him balance all of that stuff and still be in a battle for the lead at Dover, it's been great.''

But Kurt had some brotherly advice for Kyle.

``It would've been great to see him pass Jimmie Johnson, for me, but it wouldn't have been the best thing for him within his team,'' Kurt Busch said. ``He knows that and he's learning and now he's in contention for the rookie of the year title.''

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BY TIM HADDOCK