Busch weighing options on whether to run full-time schedule

By Terry Blount
ESPN.com
(Archive)

Updated: April 18, 2008, 9:40 PM ET

AP Photo/Miguel Tovar

Kyle Busch is juggling a lot of hats these days -- and loving every minute of it.

MEXICO CITY -- Kyle Busch said Friday the decision on whether to run the entire Nationwide Series schedule is strictly up to him.

"It really depends on our Cup effort," Busch said. "Right now we're not as good as we need to be. We're getting beat by the 99 [Carl Edwards] and the 48 [Jimmie Johnson]. We've got to get our cars a little better where we can run with those guys."

Busch ranks second in the Sprint Cup standings, 80 points behind Jeff Burton. Busch is third in the Nationwide standings, 106 points behind Clint Bowyer. But Busch enters the Corona Mexico 200 Sunday with victories in the last two Nationwide events.

"We're still going race by race and see how it goes," Busch said. "If I win this weekend, that doesn't change it.

"Cup testing is going to come into play. We're going to have to go out to places [non-Cup tracks] to work on it. That tends to make me tired, so I may not want to do all the traveling back and forth from Sonoma to Milwaukee and from Kentucky to Michigan."

Those are two of the three weekends in June where Cup and Nationwide don't race at the same venue. The Nationwide drivers race at Kentucky Speedway on June 14, the night before the Cup race at Brooklyn, Mich. The next week Nationwide races at Milwaukee the night before the Cup road race at Sonoma, Calif.

Edwards Likes Braun at Mexico City

Carl Edwards didn't hesitate when asked whom he sees as a surprise pick for Sunday's race.

"Colin Braun is the guy to look for," Edwards said. "He is very, very good. As much as I want to stand here and say I'm the guy to beat and I'm going to win this race, I'm telling you I'm going to have to beat Colin. We went and tested and he's spectacular."

Braun, a 19-year-old racer from Ovalo, Texas, is a developmental driver for Roush Fenway Racing.

Braun made history at age 17 as the youngest winner of a major auto race in North America with his victory in a Grand Am event at Daytona. He also was the youngest driver to stand on the podium at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, finishing second in a Ferrari when he was 18. Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.
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Double Duty For Fernandez

Fernandez

Adrian Fernandez is racing in the American Le Mans event Saturday at Long Beach, Calif., and the Corona Mexico 200 Sunday at Mexico City.

He believes his double-race weekend is tougher than most racing doubles because it includes going back and forth between two countries.

"It's a four-and-a-half-hour flight and you have to clear customs after you get here," Fernandez said. "It's crazy. I haven't even scheduled time to eat. I get back to Mexico City around 1:30 a.m. after the race Saturday at Long Beach. I won't get much sleep, but it's going to be fun. I'm still young enough to try it."

Fernandez turns 45 on Sunday. His wife, Catalina, is expecting their second child in two weeks. He will have to start in the back Sunday, but believes he can work his way to the front.

"If I manage to keep my car clean, I think I'll be fighting for the win at the end," he said. "It's a long race."

Fernandez, a longtime open-wheel racer and a former IndyCar team owner, is thrilled about the merger between the IRL and Champ Car. He said he won't get back in an Indy car as a driver, but he does have other plans.

"I want to get back in it as a team owner," Fernandez said. "We [are] working on it now, and with a little luck it will happen. There's more opportunity over there now that the war is over."

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