Is this the night when Kyle Busch gets his comeuppance, for all the aggravation he has been dealing out on the NASCAR tour?
Tonight's Sprint Cup All-Star race has no points on the line, pays a cool $1 million-plus to win, and is typically a good place to settle a few grievances.
But anyone wanting to settle things with Busch will first have to catch him. And he has been one of the fastest on the NASCAR scene all spring, be it Sprint Cup, Nationwide or the Truck series. Tonight's 9 o'clock feature should be no different.
Last night he blew away the field to win the pole for the All-Star green. Not only was Busch fast on the track, but he was also fast on pit road. Qualifying for the All-Star race is unusual, with a four-tire pit stop included in the three-lap run. The pit-road speed limit of 45 mph was in effect for drivers entering pit road, but there was no speed limit leaving.
Busch is no stranger to controversy, to put it mildly. Just ask his own brother Kurt -- they crashed last year in this race while fighting for the win, with the younger Kyle making a move that was a bit too aggressive.
Kyle Busch has already won eight NASCAR-sanctioned races this season, but, hey, maybe there is hope for Busch's rivals: a switch to Formula One?
He has scheduled an F1 test.
"We're actually working on that right now," Busch said. "A test session at the end of November or beginning of December, going to Japan for a little exhibition, and see what it's like."
"We'll take the Cup car over there too, run around either Twin Ring Motegi or something like that and show them what the Cup cars are like -- and try to get in the Formula One car," Busch said. "We'll see how good I test first. We'll see if my neck can withstand the G-forces."
Would he consider a jump to Formula One racing?
"I wouldn't mind it," Busch said. "If I can do it, and I'm good at it, then I'll give it a shot. But it seems their racing isn't all that great; they get stuck in line and the aero takes over everything.
"And I don't think it is just ‘Put a driver in the seat' to make it go. You need a little bit more of a car."
The more we get to know Kyle Busch, the more there is to know about him.
His talent is exceptional, comparable to some of NASCAR's past stars.
"It's something I don't tend to focus on too much," Busch said.
He said the boos just roll off his back.
"I just laugh, like ‘OK. Just because I'm not the most popular guy here, don't hate on my talent.'I guess they do."
I don't care. I'm here to do what I have to do, and as long as I'm winning races….
"If Kyle ever gets it all balanced out, he'll be unstoppable," Jeff Gordon said. "He's darned near unstoppable right now."
What's he looking for here tonight?
"It's a different atmosphere, a different way of racing for everybody," he said.
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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