By Dustin Dow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Despite his struggles last week in Nashville, 19-year-old Kyle Busch hardly comes into Kentucky Speedway this weekend running on empty.

Driving for one of NASCAR's superior teams and in the car that won the Busch Series points title last season, Busch will be one of the favored drivers in Saturday's Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

He has led the Busch Series points standings for much of his rookie season until Saturday, when his No. 5 car ran out of gas with four laps to go in Nashville in the Federated Auto Parts 300. Busch was driving in first place at the time but finished 17th, allowing Martin Truex Jr. to take over the points lead after 15 races.

With two wins and 11 top-10 finishes, Busch appears to have had very little trouble with any sort of learning curve in his first full-time NASCAR season as long as the gas tank remains full.

"It's been easy to take success and turn it into more success," Busch said. "Being a rookie with a championship-caliber team, I haven't made the rookie mistakes that might hurt us."

That's partly because Busch is more experienced than the average rookie. Auto racing has always been part of his life, with older brother Kurt driving at NASCAR's Cup level since 2000 and Kyle having raced in 10 different divisions the last six years. He found immediate success last year in the ARCA series, winning two of his first three races before moving on to the Busch Series.

"I'm not able to figure it out really," Busch said.

"I do really well in every division. I've been put in so many different cars, it makes you diverse. I realize, if you just finish in the top five, the points will come."

The combination of an up-and-coming driver and one of the most respected teams in the business should demonstrate why Busch is doing so well, said last year's Meijer 300 winner, Bobby Hamilton Jr., who is fourth in the point standings.

"He's doing what he needs to do, but look at the equipment," said Hamilton, who comes into Kentucky looking for his first win of the season.

"That car won the championship last year. It's Hendrick Motorsports. It's not like they're taking mediocre stuff out and running with it. They've got the best equipment. It's really all the equipment. It's like 80 percent of it. Twenty percent is the crew, and whatever is left is the driver."

As one of the top developmental teams in the sport, Hendrick Motorsports also will introduce Blake Feese to the Busch Series this weekend at Kentucky. Hendrick brought along Busch last season from ARCA to a limited Busch Series schedule. Now he's driving the car current Nextel Cup rookie Brian Vickers drove to a Busch points title last year.

Busch won his first Busch Series race, the Funai 250, May 14 at Richmond International Speedway.

Two weeks later, he won the Carquest Auto Parts 300 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

Seven times he has finished in the top five, which is why he's just 40 points behind Truex almost halfway through the season.

Busch's sudden success naturally lends him to think about eventually moving full time into Nextel Cup, where he is racing a handful of events this season.

"I'm content to stay in the Busch Series," Bush said. "I'm having a lot of fun here, but it would be awesome to move into Nextel Cup."

Speedway schedule

Friday

2 p.m. Gates open

5 p.m.: Meijer 300 qualifying

9 p.m.: Kentucky 150

Saturday

3 p.m.: Gates open

5:30 p.m.: Tracy Byrd concert

8 p.m.: Meijer 300

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E-mail ddow@enquirer.com