BUSCH: Still Shopping Benson
01-11-2010 10:36 am

Kyle Busch said Saturday that he's still trying to sign a sponsor so that 2008 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Johnny Benson can run full time this season in a third Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra.

Busch and his protégé Brian Ickler will split time in one KBM Toyota, while Tayler Malsam, last year's runner-up for Raybestos Rookie of the Year honors, will be full time in a second KBM entry. And if the team can find the money to field a third truck for Benson, Busch is all for it.

"We're still working on sponsorship projects for Johnny Benson in order to get him down to Daytona," Busch said Saturday in Nashville, where he was attending the Sprint Sound & Speed Presented by Suntrust fan event. "We have till the 22nd to make something happen to that. We'll see how it works out. But I'd really like to get Johnny down to Daytona and be able to have him compete for a championship for Kyle Busch Motorsports."

For Busch, becoming a NASCAR team owner at the ripe old age of 24 has been a learning experience and mostly a good one.

"For me there's been a lot of things that have been very positive this winter," said Busch, who has won more races in NASCAR's top three divisions than anyone else over the past two seasons. "There's been a lot of things that have been a drain on me that we've really been trying to work through. Toyota has been a great partner for me in order for us to get going. They've given us a lot of stuff. Also trying to work with Taylor and Brian as my young drivers, bringing them along, spending some time with the guys in the shop."

Busch said it's been a time-consuming process getting people in place at his shop in Mooresville, N.C. The team is leasing the old XT Motorsports shop until its own state-of-the-art facility is ready later this year.

"Actually I think we still have a couple more people to hire, but most positions are filled," said Busch. "It's about trying to get all the people together and have everybody learn each other's names. We have name tags around the shop: 'Hello, my name is.' I haven't been there in a week or two maybe, since before Christmas. So, you know, I'm looking forward to getting back on Monday."

Busch also said that becoming a team owner has forced him to confront some of his own worst habits in terms of temperament. "Growing and learning with age and mistakes that you make. Sometimes you have to make your own mistakes to learn from the consequences of them," said Busch, who began racing in the Truck Series while still a high-school student in Las Vegas. "Overall I feel like just getting used to the NASCAR world and everything that goes on here and the business side of things, the political side of things, all that stuff. I mean, I went to high school and got out of high school in three years, got thrown into the big world of these flesh eating animals over here."

And Busch is hoping the lessons learned so far make him a better team owner and driver.

"I'm not making excuses for myself, but I feel like just by being able to get the right experiences, learn from those, sort of keep them in the memory bank, store them for later on down the road," he said. "I've already learned so many more lessons just in owning a truck team, how to handle people, how to handle situations, how to handle drama, per se, a little bit more. I always brought the drama on. Now I see what everybody had to deal with when I brought it. Now I kind of get to see some of that from the side everybody else was seeing it on."

On the Sprint Cup side, he's hoping to return to championship contention after missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup for the first time since his rookie season in 2005.

"I could be better this year," Busch said. "I certainly hope so. We can go out there and try not to worry about causing so much drama but going after a championship and dethroning the four time champion (Jimmie Johnson)."