Through the season's first half, Kyle Busch seems to be adjusting quite well to life with his new teammates at Joe Gibbs. Robert LeSieur/Reuters

SI.com's Mark Beech offers the most intriguing news, notes and analysis fans need to know heading into each week's race

Green Flags

How dominant has Kyle Busch been through the first third of the 2008 season? He's already got 10 victories across NASCAR's three national series, which is only four short of the all-time record set by Kevin Harvick just two years ago. He leads both the Sprint and Nationwide series in laps led, with 786 apiece, and also leads the Craftsmen-Truck circuit in that department (304) despite making only six of eight starts. That means he's run out front on nearly 2,000 laps so far this year. The man every fan loves to hate isn't merely on pace for a great season, he's on pace for one of the greatest seasons in history.

Last year, I sat down with an insider on one of Cup racing's top teams to discuss the saga of Dale Earnhardt Jr. Much to my surprise, my source seemed much more interested in how Junior's jump to Hendrick Motorsports was actually going to effect Kyle Busch. "At Hendrick," he told me, "Junior will finally have a chance to win races. Kyle Busch is going to win races no matter where he goes. At Gibbs, he could win 10 next year and every year after that."

And doesn't the Shrub seem hellbent on proving my source right, on validating his greatness this year? It's no surprise really, since Busch does everything on the track in a hurry, as well. It's what draws the ire of so many fans (along with his abrasive personality, of course), especially when Junior gets caught up in his wake. I understand why people are angry, but I'm wondering when they're also going to realize that they're witnessing something rare, something special. Busch seems poised to become NASCAR's version of Michael Jordan or Joe Montana, and athlete who by virtue of his perfection, can transcend the game he plays.

Certainly, to me, Busch seems to be a throwback to just the sort of driver that every NASCAR fan claims to love-to Dale Earnhardt, who drove like a man possessed when he was winning Cup titles. Perhaps the love for Busch is still to come. His manners will probably never cease to rub people the wrong way, but performance can overcome a lot. Think of Ted Williams or Muhammad Ali, who were lightning rods in their heyday before they mellowed into beloved pieces of Americana. These comparisons aren't out of line. Busch is going to be one of the all-time greats. People should get used to it.

How to drive

Pocono Raceway

Casey Mears talks about driving around Pocono's triangular layout: "If I had to choose one place [on the track] to be better at it would have to be Turn 3. On Turn 1, a driver can manhandle his way through it. The tunnel turn can be improved throughout the race. But Turn 3 leads into a long straightaway (3,740 feet, over 7/10 of a mile). If you mess up there, you lose a lot of time and possible positions."

Pit stops

4: Races won at Pocono by four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, the most of any driver currently in the top 12 of the point standings.

3: Number of wins for Gordon in the first 13 races of the 2007 season.

0: Number of wins for Gordon in the first 13 races of 2008.

Pocono memories

June 6, 1982: Bobby Allison wins the Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 at Pocono, the first of two for him at the track that season. He repeat his victory the following summer, giving him three straight wins at Pocono.