Wednesday, April 6th 'What If' Question

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June of 2009 a kid from Connecticut became the youngest winner in NASCAR history. Joey Logano, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, broke the record held by teammate Kyle Busch of 20 years, four months and two days when he won at the age of 19 years, one month and four days.

Had it not been for NASCAR rule change however, Busch may have won at a younger age. He started racing at six-years-old and immediately made his mark. After setting his native Las Vegas on fire in 2001 with 65 wins and championships in Legends cars, Busch moved onto Late Model Stock cars where he again found victory lane. By late 2001 he was already signed to a NASCAR deal with team owner Jack Roush.

He went out at 16-years-old and made his Camping World Truck Series debut at O'Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis. He qualified 23rd and finished ninth. He ran a few more Truck races that year and nearly won one of them. It appeared that Busch was going to quickly follow his older brother Kurt, into the premier level of NASCAR. That was until officials made a rule change to the age limit.

Busch was forced to wait until he was 18-years-old to move any further in his NASCAR career. In 2003 he was signed by Hendrick Motorsports and ran races in both the ARCA and Nationwide Series where he found victory lane. In 2004 he competed full-time in NNS and won Rookie of the Year and five races but finished second in points to Martin Truex Jr. A year later he was in the Sprint Cup Series where he won his first race at California in September of 2005.

The rest as they say is history. Busch is now one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history and a threat to win each weekend. No matter if he's driving in Truck, Nationwide or Cup everyone knows that Busch is going to be a factor.

But ...

What If #NASCAR didn't change age limit & @KyleBusch was able to make debut at 17yrs old would he still have made it to where he is today?

@Jrocket10: Yep! he's just got that talent..

@kellijo75: interesting but remember Kurt was.always there...doesn't hurt to have had the trail cleared already, so probably.

@NobleWarrior88: as much as I dislike Kyle, the fact is he could've started at 15 or 16 and still been as successful, kid's got talent

@cruetten: a lot of young drivers, i feel, are pushed up the ladder too quickly. not KB. if he debuted earlier, he would still be with JGR, but with more wins, more records, and possibly even a cup by now.

Tim Simmons (via Facebook) He's where he is today because he left hms. If he was still at hms he would only be racing cup. He should thank dale jr

Stroker Ace (via Facebook) Yes, he would still be an ASS. :)