Failed truck team won’t deter Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch should just add "youngest" to his name.

As in youngest Busch brother or youngest to win this or that. On Sunday, he will become the youngest at 25 years, one month and four days to start a Cup race for the 200th time. And he has won 18, including two this year.

He's the reigning champion of the Nationwide Series, where he has won five times this year. In the Camping World Truck Series, he has won two of the five races he has entered.

Busch and brother Kurt have won the past six NASCAR races.

On the surface, times couldn't be better for Kyle Busch.

He's winning races in whatever he drives, is second in Sprint Cup points and is engaged to be married in December.

He has also learned a lot about the racing business -- the hard way.

Busch added to his "youngest" milestones in December when he became the youngest sole owner of a team in one of NASCAR's three major series by deciding to expand Kyle Busch Motorsports to include two truck teams and possibly a third.

When we talked in late January about the major expansion, Busch wore a smile wider than the one he flashes in winner's circles. He was proudest of how the operation would give young drivers a shot at NASCAR and provide scores of jobs for racing technicians. He was pleased to offer quality health insurance and benefits to his employees, many of whom had been left unemployed the previous two years as the sagging economy took its toll on NASCAR.

So, despite a pending marriage that he beams about and his being in contention for a Cup championship, times couldn't have been much worse for Kyle Busch last week when lack of sponsorship forced him to shut down one of his truck teams.

He had to lay off a few employees, but far more continue to work for him.

Industry sources say he must have planned to spend up to $6 million to run the operation this year. When he made the decision, he had one major sponsor: Miccosukee Casinos, which are owned by a Florida Indian tribe.

It's believed that the sponsorship deal would have paid the team $2 million to $3 million. Miccosukee had supported NASCAR teams for a few years, but the tribe's council voted out the pro-NASCAR leader, and the new one backed out of contracts and deals to sponsor Busch and other NASCAR entities.

Busch will continue to operate one truck, which either he or 2008 series champion Johnny Benson will drive.

But Busch won't go bankrupt doing it.

"What it all boils down to is if I get hurt. If I get hurt, I can't go forward. I don't need to put my family in that position," he said. "I think that's a bad idea. I've just got to stay healthy and keep going."

As disappointed as he is about cutbacks at his shop and the lack of sponsorship, Busch is showing maturity in the board room the same way he has this year on the racetrack.

In the long run, that will pay off.

Jeff Wolf's motor sports column is published Friday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He can be reached at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247. Visit Wolf's motor sports blog at lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal/ throughout the week.