Tuesday, May 13, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.
Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-4089.
Kyle Busch is looking more and more like a genius for his decision to break away from Roush Racing and join Hendrick Motorsports.
Busch improved his record to 2-0 with Hendrick Motorsports after easily winning Saturday's ARCA race at Kentucky Speedway. Busch, a Las Vegas native, led 91 of 137 laps and beat ARCA veteran Frank Kimmel to the checkered flag by 3.395 seconds.
It was the second ARCA victory for Busch since joining Hendrick Motorsports this year. He also won an ARCA event last month at Nashville Speedway in the No. 87 Ditech.com-sponsored Chevrolet.
"Ditech.com and Hendrick Motorsports are two great companies to be involved with," Busch said. "We're here in the ARCA Series doing the best we can, trying to win races, but also just trying to gain experience and get ready for running the Busch Series full time next year. That's what we're working toward."
Busch, who turned 18 on May 2, will make his NASCAR Busch Series debut May 24 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C. He also is scheduled to run the ARCA event at Lowe's on May 22.
Busch is scheduled to compete in six Busch Series races this season and will run full-time next year and compete for Rookie of the Year honors.
"I've replayed that thing in my head over and over about how I could have done it differently ... how I could have or should have passed him and won that race," Earnhardt said. "I felt like I did the right thing by not crashing him, but it's not like it was really a conscious decision; it all happens so fast, it's over before your brain realizes what your right foot has done.
"It was the right decision at that split-second for me to make. The money wasn't worth the reaction it would have caused. I couldn't look in the mirror the next day, knowing I had crashed somebody to win it."
Newman joined Earnhardt (2000) as the only rookies to have won The Winston in the 18-year history of the race.
The 19th edition of NASCAR's all-star race will be Saturday night at Lowe's.
Busch finished fourth in last year's all-star race but was fined $10,000 by NASCAR for suggesting in a televised interview that he intentionally spun out Robby Gordon with five laps remaining to bring out a caution flag. That aside, Busch said he counts The Winston among his favorite events of the season.
"The Winston is at the best racetrack at the best time of year and I love the format of 'survival of the fastest,' " Busch said.
"It means a lot and I really don't think that you could make it any more meaningful; it already pays well and it represents when a driver has made a breakthrough in the sport because you have to win a race to be in it, so I think it's a great event."
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