It's Kyle's time

By DAVID GREEN

Understatement: Kyle Busch winning a NASCAR race is getting to be a fairly regular occurrence these days. All Busch has done is win 13 races in the three national touring stock car series, in roughly half a season. That's a pretty darned fair share of winning.

How to explain this? Is the younger brother of Kurt Busch, nicknamed Shrub, really that good? Is his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team that good? Is the Toyota that good?

Whatever the answer, consider this: Busch has a chance of winning as many races in major NASCAR competition in a season as the winningest driver in stock car racing history -- Richard Petty, who won 27 in 1967.

Yes, yes, I know Petty won all his races in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. There was no Nationwide or Craftsman Truck Series back then, and the Grand Nationals ran a mix of approximately 50 or more major and minor races, from the Daytona 500 to a 50-mile chase at the quarter-mile Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C. Sometimes there were a dozen or so cars in the field.

Arguably, the competition Busch is facing in three series today offers a much stiffer test than the 48 Grand National races Petty ran in '67. So, even if the pursuit of King Richard's victory total is bogus, it's not a completely contrived suggestion.

It's all but certain no driver will ever win 27 Cup Series races, not in the foreseeable future. But if Busch wins 27 or more races, it's certainly valid to suggest his accomplishment is at least as significant as Petty's was 41 years ago.

Fans of Shrub, also nicknamed Rowdy, probably aren't worried about explanations. They're just enjoying it. As for the rest of stock car racing's fandom, looks like they just have to grit their teeth and take it. There's no sign Rowdy is going to slow down.