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BRISTOL, Tenn. — Kyle Busch walked into crew chief Steve Addington's office unannounced earlier last week to discuss the team's middling performance.

They met for more than two hours.

Friday night, Busch had just taken the lead in the Nationwide race when a lapped car wrecked him, ending the race for the series points leader. Instead of vilifying the inexperienced driver, Busch calmly discussed the accident.

Can this be the same person who confronted Brian Vickers after their last-lap battle in a Nationwide race the week before in Michigan? The driver whose actions led Vickers to say: "I hate that he lives in such an angry place. It just must be miserable, to be honest with you."

It is the same person. Just as it was Busch who tried to give an emotional girl in the stands wearing a Busch T-shirt the checkered flag after he won Saturday's Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Busch isn't that difficult to understand even as many try to psychoanalyze him. He wins, he's happy. He loses, he's not. The 24-year-old does not hide either emotion. Just as he doesn't mind antagonizing fans. As boos showered him during pre-race driver introductions, Busch strode on stage with a wide, gleaming smile.

That smirk has been gone most days. Busch entered Saturday's race winless in the past 13 Cup races — a drought for him. He had only three top-10 finishes during that span.

Busch remains outside a Chase spot, trailing 12th-place Matt Kenseth by 34 points with two races left. The series is off this weekend before heading to Atlanta on Labor Day weekend. Busch admits that's a track he has some concerns about.

Thus, the meeting with Addington at the shop.

"We're trying to find answers," Busch said. "We're thinking about going back to more of what we ran setup-wise last year at some of the places, see if it works. We've got to try something."

Some suggest that Busch's slump has as much to do with him as his car, making Vickers' words an accurate depiction.

"There's nothing else to me but the feeling of winning," Busch said after his victory gave him a sweep of the Bristol Cup races.

Busch says his foul moods don't last long after races, claiming he's often fine by the time his plane lands back in the Charlotte area.

Yet, he admits he can do a better job handling his emotions.

Doing so has been a key project at Joe Gibbs Racing this season. Advice has come from many, including Joe Gibbs, who as a football coach would tell his kickers that if they ever missed a field goal not to look at the sideline for 10 seconds "because everybody over there is calling you everything you can think of."

Friday was proof that Busch seems to be following Gibbs' advice of looking the other way. Busch went easy on Chase Austin for wrecking him.

"Chase, he's young, trying to learn,'' Busch said of the Nationwide incident. "It's not worth it to blast a young guy coming in trying to learn.

"I don't tend to cut the experienced guy much slack because we all should know better, essentially."

He had nothing but praise for Mark Martin, who battled Busch for the win in the final laps Saturday.

"I was so close to losing control of my car when I got on the inside of him," Martin said after his runner-up finish. "I was also so out of control that if we had touched, I would have wrecked, too, because I didn't have control of my car."

After Busch crossed the finish line, he didn't let out a customary yell. Instead he thanked his crew with a tired voice. The intensity drained him as did the moment.

Just like the season, there's more to Busch's journey to making the Chase and finding inner happiness even when he isn't happy.

Contact Dustin Long at 373-7062 or dustin.long@news-record.com