ESPN Sprint Cup

ESPN.com preseason rank: No. 22

2009 Outlook

Kurt Busch has "a lot of enthusiasm" heading into this season, but would you expect otherwise?

The former series champion knows what it takes to win, and he knows how to win, and it's clearly going to take avoiding the five DNFs and the 10 finishes of 35th or worse he had last season.

"Our plan is to establish a big-picture mentality about what we do from Daytona on throughout the schedule," Busch said. "What happened to us so many times last season was that we'd be out there in a race with what was, at best, a 12th- to 15th-place car, and we got nowhere near that for our finish.

"We'd make strategy calls trying to get something more than that, or I just over-drove the car."

Crew chief Pat Tryson returns to call the pit-box shots for Busch. His goal for '09 is simple -- "to be back up there in the Chase again."

Tryson said his task the first 26 races will be providing Busch a source of consistency.

2008 Review

The year started with such promise for Busch and his Penske Racing team.

After finishing second behind then-teammate Ryan Newman at the Daytona 500, Busch crashed out of three of the next nine races. While his little brother, Kyle, was dominating the Sprint Cup series the first half of the season, Kurt Busch was mired in disappointment.

He did have a victory in the rain-shortened race victory at New Hampshire, but all in all, this was not a memorable season for Busch, who finished 18th in points. Busch had 10 top-10 finishes, including five top-5s.

He has a shot at the title if: He avoids the inconsistent finishes that blemished his '08 season.

He won't win because: Teams like Hendrick and Roush Fenway have a better feel for the COT at all the tracks.

-- Angelique S. Chengelis