Tip your cap to Busch--he deserves it: with huge potential and a heart to match, Busch will have a seat at the head table for years to come.(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing)

Gaye Busch sits patiently near the back of the conference room at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Her oldest son, Kurt, just won his first Nextel Cup championship, but the response by the crowd is tepid. After eloquently answering the softball questions tossed to him by NBC after climbing from his racecar, the inquisition from the core media begins.

Gaye Busch is hardly June Cleaver. Still, she's doing her best to graciously mask her emotions as Kurt defends his character. He should be commenting on the strategy used to win the title, but that would be too easy. One moment she winces. The next she smiles. Despite the litany of questions, Kurt is responding succinctly and patiently. Gaye Busch can't hide her pride.

"I don't think people understand the time we've invested to get Kurt where he's at today," she says. "How he's matured after that, he's done that on his own. But the transformation in the last couple of years has even surprised me."

Love him or hate him, Kurt Busch is the Cup champion. Whatever your opinion of the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup format, Busch and the No. 97 team, led by crew chief Jimmy Fennig, did what was necessary to squeeze out the most points during the 10-race shootout.

The team followed the rules and won in style. Had it not been for an engine failure at Atlanta, Busch's average finish would have been 5.2. That 42nd-place finish, which tightened the points race and tested the No. 97 team, was Busch's only finish outside of the top 10 during the Chase.

Busch drove the wheels off the car at Homestead--literally. He kept his composure after he lost a wheel and when he came back from a pit stop during which the crew nearly forgot to refuel the car. Those incidents would have rattled even the most seasoned driver, but Busch calmly reminded his team over the radio about the big picture.