September 14, 2006

By Rebecca Gladden

Rebecca Gladden

Advertising gurus may have their own ideas of what makes a young gun in the NASCAR Nextel Cup series -- but one look at the ages and accomplishments of the top-10 drivers after Saturday night's Richmond race shows who the real "young guns" are.

Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Kasey Kahne are the only 20-somethings in the 2006 Chase for the Championship, and the three have combined to win 8 of 26 races so far this season.

Busch, 21, and Hamlin, 25, are both in the top 5 as the Chase launches this weekend at Loudon. This is Busch's second year as a Cup driver and Hamlin's first.

Kasey Kahne, 26, rounds out the top-10 roster, racing his way into the playoffs at Richmond while knocking Tony Stewart out of title contention. Kahne is a third-year Cup competitor and narrowly missed the Chase in his rookie season.

Busch heads into Loudon 4th in points and at age 21 is the youngest driver to make the Chase. If he wins the title, he will supplant Jeff Gordon as the youngest Cup champion of the modern era. Gordon was 24 when he won his first championship in 1995.

Last season, Busch became the youngest driver ever to win a Cup race at the age of 20 years, 4 months and 2 days with a victory at California Speedway. He was the 2005 Rookie of the Year and has notched three wins and 28 top-10's in just two Cup seasons.

Kyle had the dominant car for much of the night at Richmond, leading 248 of 400 laps. The Hendrick Motor Sports driver had the lead in the closing laps and appeared to be headed for the win, but was passed by Kevin Harvick as they took the white flag, handing Harvick the weekend Richmond sweep.

When asked about his ability to compete in NASCAR's elite racing series at such a young age, Busch stated, "I know some day hopefully there won't be as much during a year that I'll have to learn, but you're very right in saying that I've had plenty to learn and being at such a young age. But the career I chose, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to become a race car driver, and that's what I love to do best is drive race cars as fast as I can make them go. The big thing is just trying to go out there and get the best result you possibly can, and yet try to learn the best things, and I don't know what that might entail for me. We'll find out, I guess."

Denny Hamlin has the distinction of being the first - and so far the only - rookie to compete in the Chase for the Championship. Hamlin only ran seven Cup races last year when he was chosen by team owner Joe Gibbs to take the wheel for the struggling No. 11 team. In 26 races this season, Hamlin has two wins, four top 5's, 13 top 10's and three poles. He has led 385 laps and starts the Chase 5th in points.

Hamlin finished 15th at Richmond despite dropping a cylinder in the latter third of the race, moving up two spots in the standings. The biggest surprise of the night was Denny's teammate and reigning Cup champ Tony Stewart dropping out of title contention, leaving Hamlin as the only Gibbs competitor in the Chase.

While enjoying his own accomplishments, Hamlin was visibly upset about Stewart's turn of events.

"I think June or so was a tough month for those guys. Those DNF's were hard to recover from. It's really hard to make up points. My heart goes out to those guys. I probably feel for him more than he feels for himself, really. It would be good to have a teammate in this Chase."

Kasey Kahne was at the eye of the storm heading into Richmond as the only driver outside the top 10 with a legitimate chance to bump someone out Chase contention. Kahne leads all drivers with five wins this season, and his third-place finish on Saturday was enough to get the job done.

"We did what we had to do two weeks in a row and we ended up making it in. Richmond will always be a special track for me. I won my first Cup race here and I made my first Chase here, so Richmond has been real good to me," said Kahne.

He also expressed surprise that Stewart - who thinks of Kahne as a little brother - will not be in the title hunt this year. Although Kahne is the one who knocked Stewart out of the top 10, he isn't letting that situation dampen his spirits.

"I'm very surprised that Tony Stewart didn't make it in. I never would have thought he would be the one not to make it in. It's a relief to get in. I'm proud of the team and everybody on the No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge Charger team. I'm excited. It's huge to be in the Chase. It's big for Evernham Motorsports. It's pretty cool."

Cool … a young gun's word if ever there was one.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.