Standing on a photo tower inside turn 1, a reporter turned to me and wrote on his notebook how we are witnessing the infancy of what will be the greatest career in racing. The reporter was referring to Kyle Busch as he was on his way to winning at Darlington.

That's a powerful statement in a sport celebrating 60 years and littered with names such as Petty, Earnhardt, Pearson, etc. The point the reporter was making was how Busch can win and has won at any level from Cup, Nationwide and Truck. Count a Late Model race and Busch has won at least some sort of race in each of the past six weeks.

Something to consider: Busch scored his seventh Cup win in his 125th start. That's a winning percentage of 5.6 percent. Not great but it's early. He does have 59 top-10s in 125 starts. To compare:

By his 125th start, Dale Earhnhard had 7 wins (and one title) and 72 top 10s.

By his 125th start, Richard Petty had 6 wins and 71 top 10s.

By his 125th start, David Pearson had 7 wins and 61 top 10s.

By his 125th start, Jeff Gordon had 20 wins and 73 top 10s.

The desire of many is to say whatever is hot is the next greatest thing. Certainly Busch has shown that his numbers compare favorably with some of the sport's icons. When you consider that the level of competition is viewed as higher today than in the early days of some great drivers, Busch's numbers stand out.

Maybe we are witnessing a form of greatness that comes around only so often. As you ponder that, a few other items from Saturday night's race at Darlington:

# Dale Earnhardt Jr. spoke briefly on his radio to crew chief Tony Eury Jr. after the race about how the car was different in the race than it had been during the past two days. There have been some who question if the Earnhardt-Eury combination is as good at getting a car better as the race progresses. They are better at that area. If not Earnhardt wouldn't have scored his eighth top-10 on Saturday with a fourth-place finish. No doubt this duo will have to be better in late-race decisions espeically with the way Busch (and Carl Edwards) are showing strength on the big tracks. Teams do have some time before the Chase but recall that half of the 10 Chase races are on 1.5-mile tracks. If the Chase started today, it would be hard to pick against Edwards or Busch for the crown. 

# Did you notice that David Ragan finished fifth and moved into 12th in the points? This is the same guy who got a bit of a reputation last year for wrecking and wildness. He's more comfortable in the car and the cars are better. Thus, he can be more patient. Nothing cures ills like a well-handling race car.

Ragan admits that being 12th is "cool, it's something to talk to about and it's something to enjoy, but guess what, in two more weeks everybody is going to forget about this race and be worried about the next one. This points deal is pretty tight. We don't have much breathing room in front of us and we don't have much behind us.''

# Did you also notice the big save Matt Kenseth made? He finished sixth after having placed 38th or worse in the last three races. Kenseth's performace moved him two spots to 20th. He's 133 points out of 12th. He's been further behind later in the season but this team needed to break its recent run of poor finishes. "We've been running so terrible and having such bad luck, I was happy for our finish,'' he said.

# In a race called the Dodge Challenger 500, Dodges did nothing. Kurt Busch was the top finishing Dodge, placing 12th. Dodges combined to lead 6 of the 367 laps with rookie Patrick Carpentier leading the way by leading four laps.

# Dave Blaney's ninth-place finish moved him into 35th in the car owner points, meaning he's guaranteed a starting spot for the Coca-Cola 600. Blaney knocked rookie Sam Hornish Jr. out of the top 35.

# Something else to consider about Kyle Busch. He has three wins after 11 races (as does Carl Edwards). That means both are on pace to win maybe 10 races this season. And people thought that Jimmie Johnson's 10-win season from last year wouldn't be repeated soon.

# In case you missed it, I reported in an entry before the race that Terry Labonte is set to join Petty Enterprises for a few races when Kyle Petty goes to the TV booth. That would make the Labonte brothers teammates.