Don't tell Kyle Busch that his NASCAR Dream Season will be tarnished if it doesn't end with a Sprint Cup Series trophy.
Busch, in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing, believes 2008 has already exceeded even his wildest imagination.
"It's been a great season, and we've had a lot of success this year and really we thought it was going to be a building year," said Busch, who kicks off the 2008 Chase as the No. 1 seed. He has a 30-point edge over Carl Edwards in the standings as the 10-race playoffs begin Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
"We thought this year was going to be the year to come out and build our relationship," Busch said. "Everything has just been kind of thrown together, and we've been here to compete for the championship. So it would obviously be great to win the championship. It'd be very gratifying.
"But still, you know, there's plenty more years that we can look forward to being able to have this much success, hopefully."
Busch might be trying to downplay his title chances this season, but there are plenty of people who believe he is the clear-cut favorite to win this year's championship -- and that by failing, the year would be a letdown.
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| Kyle Busch has a win and three top 10s at N.H. (Getty Images) |
Based on what Busch has done in the year's first 26 races -- he won eight times -- there is no reason to believe he won't keep it up over the course of the Chase. But others in this year's title field aren't about to hand over any hardware.
"They're having a great season," Edwards said. "But none of that matters now. The way Jimmie (Johnson) is running, and if (Matt) Kenseth or (Kevin) Harvick or somebody were to go out and win the next two races in a row, all the sudden the whole thing is on its head. I just think we're going to have to see how it goes."
And that goes for Edwards and his No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing team as well.
"I feel like if things go our way, we have a little bit of luck, we can beat any team out there," Edwards said. "I really believe that. We've run really well at a number of tracks this year. I'm counting on us being a favorite, but you just never know."
Reigning champion Johnson joins Edwards in having confidence but knowing how fragile a driver's championship aspirations can be during the 10-week stretch.
| Chase seeding | |
| Driver | Points |
| 1. Kyle Busch | 5,080 |
| 2. Carl Edwards | 5,050 |
| 3. Jimmie Johnson | 5,040 |
| 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 5,010 |
| 5. Clint Bowyer | 5,010 |
| 6. Denny Hamlin | 5,010 |
| 7. Jeff Burton | 5,010 |
| 8. Tony Stewart | 5,000 |
| 9. Greg Biffle | 5,000 |
| 10. Jeff Gordon | 5,000 |
| 11. Kevin Harvick | 5,000 |
| 12. Matt Kenseth | 5,000 |
| Final regular-season points | |
"I'm trying to show up at next week's race scared, worried about 11 other guys, and worry about doing my part," Johnson said. "And the thing is, I have confidence in what my abilities are and what my team is capable of and the packages we have put together in the last five or six months -- short track, big track, all of it.
"There's a lot of cars. ... you just never know what's going to happen. So I want to show up next week worried about all 11 of them and just do my job."
If Johnson does his job the way he has the last two seasons, he would become the first driver to win three consecutive Cup titles since Cale Yarborough in 1976-78.
"I do think about it, but Homestead is so far away," he said of the Nov. 16 finale. "We've had a lot of work to do as a race team to catch these guys. So now it's becoming more of a reality.
"Still, the less I can think about it, the better I'm going to be. The less I can think about all of the stuff that's coming up in the next 10 races, the better I'm going to be, and just fall back into the confidence that I have in my race team and my abilities."
