CUP'S BIGGEST SURPRISE? That just might be Kyle Busch.(Motorsports)(Nextel Cup)

Byline: AL PEARCE

The only thing some people know about Kyle Busch is that he is Kurt's brother, he pitched a fit during his winner's interview last fall at Phoenix, and he will almost certainly make the upcoming Chase for the Cup. In this case, one out of three ain't bad.

You could say Busch is the biggest surprise of this Nextel Cup season. After all, he is in only his second full season in Cup for Hendrick Motorsports. He won the Phoenix pole and the Loudon race, has seven top-fives and 12 top-10s. He is fifth-ranked, eight points from fourth. At this point last year he was 20th-ranked, where he finished.

Busch's latest top-10 speaks volumes about his team's heart. He lost five laps to suspension repairs after an early-race flat tire at Watkins Glen. He raced hard enough and got enough breaks to finish the race in ninth.

Busch was 16 when he ran six Craftsman races for Jack Roush in 2001. He took 2002 off to finish school, then ran some Busch races for Joe Nemechek in 2003. Rick Hendrick hired him in 2004 for his Busch program, plus a few Cup and truck races. Busch did the full Cup and Busch Series schedules last year and is doing the same this year. His career resume shows three wins in Cup, four in Craftsman and seven in Busch. What it doesn't show is how far he has come since last season.

"Kyle has more confidence because he knows if he does his job, we'll do ours,'' crew chief Alan Gustafson said at the Glen. "And he's comfortable with where he is as a racer. He was 20 years old last year, a rookie against the best drivers in the world. He may not have known he could hang with them. Two wins and rookie-of-the-year gave him confidence.''

Gustafson pointed out this year seems so good because '05 was so bad. "We weren't very consistent, so nobody saw what we had,'' ...