Now 25, 'old' Kyle Busch yields to 'new'

RICHMOND, Va. – Out with the old and in with the new.

The Sprint Cup Series gained another new winner this season and apparently a new driver needs introduction as well.

Welcome the “new” Kyle Busch.

How is he different than the old? Well, for one thing, the old Kyle Busch likely wouldn’t have won Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway, rallying late in the race to snatch victory from the hands of four-time series champion Jeff Gordon.

Busch started from the pole and literally ran away from the rest of the field, leading 221 of the first 229 laps. At one point, there were only seven cars on the lead lap other than Busch.

As easily as Busch’s dominance appeared, it vanished. And as the race wound down, it looked like Busch would end the night with a credible top-10 finish, capped by incredible disappointment, or even anger, from the driver.

But this is the “new” Kyle Busch.

“For the old Kyle Busch, he would have folded. The new one, he stuck in there, he dug hard,” Busch said. “He kept going.”

When Gordon and four others remained on the track instead of pitting during a caution on Lap 368 of 400, Busch came down pit road for four new tires.

When the race restarted on Lap 378, so did his swagger.

He was fifth on a restart on Lap 386 following another caution. With five laps remaining, he restarted second alongside Gordon. This time, Busch quickly caught Gordon and passed him in Turn 3 of the next lap.

With the lead again, Busch drove away from the field much like he had when the race started and cruised to the win.

“It was difficult,” said Busch, who turned 25 years old Sunday. “You know, I just kept driving every lap with what I had.

"It seems like every race so far this year we’ve had at least one run where we’ve fallen back.”

This time the “new” Kyle Busch took over.

In discussing how he kept his cool after enjoying so much dominance earlier in the race, Busch used words like “patience” and “give and take” frequently.

“It’s frustrating to see those days when you run well and not really get what you deserve,” Busch said. “But then you see the days where you struggle a little bit and you kind of steal one out of there.”

This from the guy best known as leader of the Second Place Is For Losers Club?

“You know, had this been last year with three or four of the things that happened to us in some of the races this year, particularly this one, I think you probably would have seen a different reaction,” team owner Joe Gibbs said.

“I appreciate the new Kyle.”

Gibbs paused a moment, then added with a smile, “Now, the question is, ‘What’s coming in the future?’ ”

For the moment, Busch will celebrate the end of a 22-race winless streak in Cup competition as well as the first Cup victory for his crew chief, Dave Rogers, who took over the No. 18 Toyota team late last season.

Busch jumped two spots to third in the series points standings, 109 behind new leader Kevin Harvick. He remains firmly on track as a challenger to deny Jimmie Johnson a fifth consecutive series championship.

“It stinks to not win every single weekend, but it certainly feels nice to come out of here with another good win and get another good finish,” Busch said. “Now, we just got to keep this momentum rolling.”

New Kyle Busch or old, the bottom line remains the same.