Busch set out Friday to become the first driver to race in all three of NASCAR's national series at three different tracks, a cross-country trifecta that started with practice and qualifying at Pocono Raceway before hustling off to Texas Motor Speedway for the Truck Series race.
Then he's scheduled to head back Pocono for another round of practice in his Sprint Cup car, a trip to Nashville on Saturday for the Nationwide Series race and finally back to Pocono for the Cup race on Sunday.
Asked if he was excited about the triple, or enticed by the opportunity to become the first driver to pull it off, Busch answered both "not really."
For Busch, it's all about the action and the chance to collect three different trophies.
"I just like to race, that's what it's all about," Busch said. "I don't need to test myself. I don't have anything to prove. I'm just out there trying to race races and win races."
So after qualifying his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 10th for Sunday's race, Busch raced off to a waiting helicopter to begin his trek to Texas. He anticipated arriving with 45 minutes to spare before climbing into Billy Ballew's truck for the start of that race.
While he downplayed his impending journey, the rest of the garage marveled at his efforts.
"I got to hand it to Kyle -- he loves driving the race cars and he's having a great season and winning a lot races," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said. "If I was him, that would be a great motivator to keep doing it. But the logistics of a deal like this has got to be tough.
"I think it's says a lot about what kind of racer he is. He's pretty damn dedicated."
Plenty of drivers have raced at two different tracks on the same weekend, and a handful will do it Saturday when Clint Bowyer, Carl Edwards, Jason Leffler, David Ragan and David Reutimann travel to Nashville after Cup practice to run the Nationwide Series race. Even with their heavy load, some were envious of Busch's schedule -- which also included Wednesday night's run in Tony Stewart's charity race at Eldora Speedway.
"I'm jealous of Kyle this weekend," Edwards said. "He got to race Wednesday night. He's going to race Friday, Saturday and Sunday, pretty cool. That would be fun to do. Maybe I'll get with him and see how it went after this weekend. Maybe it's something to do for next year."
Busch's schedule didn't always include the Truck Series race, but was added once Ballew moved into contention for the owner's championship. He is currently fourth in the owner standings, just 33 points behind leader Tom Mitchell, who fields a truck for Rick Crawford.
Busch has put Ballew in contention, with four top-10s and 304 laps led in his six races. When he missed Kansas and Mansfield for scheduling conflicts, fill-in driver Shane Sieg finished 18th and 21st and didn't lead a lap.
So to keep Ballew, an original owner in the series, in the running for his first title, Busch agreed to race in Texas. Busch accepts no money for driving from Ballew and all his winnings are returned to the race team.
But in helping a friend again, Busch also opened himself to scrutiny if he doesn't run well Sunday in Pocono. He enters the race with a 142-point lead in the Cup standings.
"Not taking anything away from Kyle and what he's doing," said two-time series champion Jimmie Johnson. "He's doing something cool and neat. If he runs well he's going to look like a hero, if he runs bad, everyone is going to be on his butt."
The 23-year-old Busch has been on top of his game this season, racking up 10 wins across the three series. But fatigue could be a factor this weekend -- not from the actual racing, but the tedious travel between the tracks. He tried to catch up on sleep Thursday night, when he went to bed at 8 p.m. But he's on the move from here.
"The challenge of it all is probably just staying awake," Busch said. "Just not burning out and getting too tired. That's going to be a challenge. But if everything runs smoothly and everything goes perfect, then it should be pretty easy."
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