Family feud left behind

CONCORD, N.C. -- Kyle Busch needed an inch, and big brother wouldn't give it to him.

The result?

Two cars in the wall and a family feud that lasted the rest of the year.

That wreck in the final segment of last year's All-Star race nearly destroyed the relationship between Las Vegas natives Kurt and Kyle Busch. They hardly spoke to each other for almost seven months.

They put aside their differences at a Christmas gathering that started with an edge but ended with the brothers teaming to win the championship round of "Pictionary."

"Grandma asked for a Christmas present that we both get along and go to Christmas dinner together," Kyle Busch said Friday. "So that was her present."

The Busch brothers are back at the scene of the accident this weekend and at different stages of their careers. As they head into today's $1 million showdown at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch has slipped off the radar, and his little brother has rocketed to NASCAR stardom.

Kyle has eight wins this season spanning NASCAR's top three series and leads the Sprint Cup Series standings. Kurt has one top-10 finish and is 22nd in points.

But if the 2004 series champion is jealous of the kid he calls "The Shrub," Kurt isn't letting on.

"I'm happy for his success," Kurt said. "Sometimes you get on a roll, and you are on it, and I encourage him to keep riding this wave because Mark Martin always says, 'You've got to take the highs with the lows and draw a straight line.' "

The low for the brothers came in this race last year as they jockeyed for position in the final 20-lap sprint. With no points and a monster payday on the line, both were running hard for the checkered flag.

Their version of what happened is similar: Kurt was passing Jeff Burton on the inside when Kyle darted below him to make it three wide.

Once they cleared Burton, Kyle thinks Kurt should have moved up the track to give him space to slide through the corner. Kurt admits he didn't.

"Instead of moving up to give him that lane, I'm like, 'If you want that low lane into the straightaway, you can have the low lane on entry,' " Kurt said. "So I went in in the normal spot instead of giving him room. That was an aggressive move (by Kyle), so that was an aggressive reaction on my part."

That's where things get sticky. Someone is to blame for the wreck, and neither brother accepts responsibility.

"You can say it was my fault for making an aggressive move, but it's the last segment of the All-Star race, and you've got to go," Kyle said. "Or you could say it was Kurt's fault that he didn't give me enough room getting into the corner."

Said Kurt: "There's a 51-49, or 50-50, degree of blame. When I talk to Kyle Busch fans, it's my fault. When I talk to Kurt Busch fans, it's his fault. It makes it fun. It was an exciting night for us to have that happen."

It also set a series of events in motion that have changed things for both brothers. That accident last year was the final straw for car owner Rick Hendrick, who was weary of dealing with Kyle Busch. He fired him about a month later to hire Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Kyle was snatched up by Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has flourished.

Kyle continued his dominance Friday with a flawless qualifying effort to capture the pole for the All-Star race.

In a format that called for three laps and a four-tire pit stop, Kyle, the last to hit the track, was the fastest in and out of pit road and finished in 2 minutes, 1.956 seconds.

He was more than a half-second faster than Jeff Gordon, who will start on the outside of the front row for the nonpoints race. Kurt Busch qualified third.