Talented Kyle Busch struggles with youthful emotions

	Kyle Busch's youthful aggressiveness has helped him excel on the track but has taken a heavy toll on his image off of it. Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR
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It's a simple mantra that rings true in almost every aspect of life: first impressions can be hard to break. If you start off your career at work by showing up late, chances are you'll need to work twice as hard to shed the opinion you'll never be on time.

Kyle Busch only hopes something as simple as punctuality was his problem. Instead, the youngster is fighting a far greater battle among his peers: an impression of immaturity that threatens to diminish his impressive accomplishments in the sport.

Clearly, the past few seasons on the Nextel Cup tour have been a statistical success for the 21-year-old. In a little more than two years, he's accumulated four wins, a spot in the Chase and a 10th-place points finish, all while setting a record as the youngest driver ever to win a race in Cup.

Yet, Busch continually finds himself buried both in the press and in the garage as a result of some questionable decisions that have left a decidedly bitter taste in the mouths of fans and fellow drivers.

Last year, Busch started off his sophomore season embroiled in a well-publicized spat with veteran Tony Stewart about his driving ability. In the middle of it all, Stewart's concerns about Busch's aggression were proven right; the youngster needed to hightail it out of Mexico after wrecking fan favorite Michel Jourdain Jr. while racing for the lead in a Busch Series race that March.

Busch also ran afoul of NASCAR itself at Lowe's Motor Speedway last May, when he was an innocent victim in an uncontrollable spin by Casey Mears. His wrecked race car laying mangled on the frontstretch, Busch's anger got the best of him, resulting in a HANS device to be thrown Mears' way. While the throw sailed wide right of Mears' head, the penalties NASCAR threw Busch's way hit him dead center: the loss of 25 driver points, a $50,000 fine and seven months of probation were certainly more than enough to get the young man's attention.

Since that moment, though, Busch has done an admirable job of doing everything possible to win back fans and drivers alike.

Unfortunately, his family hasn't been much help on the PR front. Older brother Kurt Busch's ingratuitous release from Roush after a speeding ticket in 2005 was the culmination of several questionable decisions that left him a frequent target for criticism from fans, the media, and others in the garage.

Kyle has looked to the role model personas put forth by teammates Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and now Mears as a baseline for how to improve his public image. But when you're dealing with three squeaky clean personas beside you, it's easy to see how quickly poorly worded statements and actions can blow up before you have any chance to stop them.