Hectic season has many asking: What is Kyle Busch out to prove?

BROOKLYN, Mich.

As Kyle Busch approaches history, not everyone appreciates his record.

Busch entered this weekend with 10 victories in the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck series. With five months left in the racing season, Busch is four wins shy of Kevin Harvick's record for victories in multiple series, which was set in 2006.

Yet when talk centers on NASCAR's greatest seasons, it's not Harvick's year or the season Busch is having that comes up. More likely to be talked about are Jeff Gordon's 13 Cup wins in 1998 or Bill Elliott's 11-win, 11-pole season in 1985.

At Busch's current rate, he could win 20 races. Wouldn't that make his season the greatest in NASCAR, at least in the modern era? Or not, because the level of competition varies between series?

Former series champion Rusty Wallace says that what Busch has done so far does not compare with what Gordon and Elliott did in Cup.

"Absolutely not," said Wallace, an analyst for ESPN. "He's having a great year. In order to win 10 Cup races and dominate like Jeff Gordon did, you're racing the world's greatest drivers. Obviously, Nationwide doesn't have the greatest drivers and the trucks are less."

Busch has won four Cup races heading into today's event at Michigan International Speedway. He also had four Nationwide and two truck wins entering this weekend.

Others admire Busch's record.

"It's hard to win at any level," said Greg Biffle, who won in all three series throughout his career. "It's (heck) of a lot easier to win in the truck and Nationwide series. It is hard to win (in Cup)."

Biffle notes that Cup races are more challenging to win because of the higher talent level among drivers and teams.

Another reason is that Cup races are longer, leaving more time for mistakes that can take away a driver's chance to win.

"I wouldn't say the competition is tremendously greater (in Cup), but there is more competition here," he said.

Of Busch's four Nationwide victories entering this weekend, three came where the field included between 11 to 16 Cup drivers, so he's won races with about as many Cup drivers as regularly compete in Nationwide events.

Regardless of how many Cup drivers Busch is racing against in other events, Mark Martin is impressed with what Busch has done.

"I think if he didn't win another race this year it should be one of the more significant achievements of all of NASCAR," said Martin, who has twice won at least 10 races across the various series in the same year. "He'd won in everything he drove."

Martin is more impressed with what Busch has done in Cup alone, winning four races for Joe Gibbs Racing in a car that had not won in four seasons.

"That should be enough," Martin said.

Harvick says Busch's season "is quite an achievement." Harvick also called his 14-win season "pretty incredible."

But Harvick wonders what drives Busch to race in so many Nationwide and Truck events.

"I still don't know what he's going to prove with the whole truck deal, flying all over the place trying to win truck races," Harvick said, alluding to Busch running in three races in three days in three states last week. "The Nationwide and Cup things are hard enough. When you throw all that in there, it doesn't seem like he's really got anything to prove over there."

Busch admits he's heard others call him crazy for jumping between all three series and flying to races to keep up a nearly full-time schedule for each series. Busch doesn't care. He has one goal - and it's not to make history.

"I heard something that Jeff (Gordon) said that he's always wanted to put his most focus toward his 24 team and everything and not let those guys down any," Busch said. "I feel that, yeah, that is a good point, but also that there's... other teams that are depending on me.

"There's a lot of guys that want me to drive their stuff and that's really flattering and pleasing to me because I love racing as much as I am."

Of course, it helps that he wins as much as he does, too.