Associated Press

Joe Gibbs (right) will see Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch compete in three states this weekend.

Kyle Busch will attempt to do something this weekend that no one has done in NASCAR's history. Question is if it's the right thing to do.

Busch is scheduled to drive in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race in Texas, the Nationwide race in Nashville and the Sprint Cup race in Pocono on consecutive days, starting Friday. That's three races in three days in three states.

Should he sweep the weekend, it likely will be heralded as one of the sport's top individual achievements. Still, is it necessary?

"To go do the three deals ... does it make sense, no,'' Busch said. "It's just fun and I love racing. I love making a show out of things. I guess it's more PR for NASCAR, let's help them out."

Busch admits he wouldn't attempt such a race weekend if things weren't going as well with his Cup team.

He leads the points and is coming off a win at Dover last weekend. His four victories in 13 Cup starts puts him on pace to win more than 10 races this season.

While victories in the Nationwide and Truck are nice, it's the Cup series that is more important and rewarding.

In a long season, is it worthwhile to fly through the night just to run more races? Can he remain sharp at Pocono after two nights of racing and flying? Or will this just wear him down later in the season?

Since the Chase was first used to determine the Cup champion in 2004, no driver who ran full time in the series formerly known as Busch series (now Nationwide series) won the Cup title in the same season.

The closest was Carl Edwards who tied for second in the 2005 Chase while running all but one Busch race that year. He tied Greg Biffle, who ran 27 of the 35 Busch races.

Edwards admits he's "a little jealous" about Busch's busy weekend. Edwards says running all those races is not a big deal

"It's mostly fun," said Edwards, who will compete in Nashville and Pocono this weekend.

"To show up at a racetrack and jump out of a jet and fly in a helicopter and then jump in a screaming-fast race car, that's every racer's dream.

"Logistically it is tougher, but physically it is not any tougher than ... running a regular weekend. It is mostly just added fun."

J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing, admits Busch's busy schedule could become an issue.

"I think it's a concern for us if you watch him and he gets tired," Gibbs said.

"I think where Kyle is with being 23, he can run pretty hard. He doesn't have a lot of stuff off the track that a lot of other guys have. That will wear you out just as much as racing. So, it's almost like let him race."

Busch is set to practice and qualify his Cup car at Pocono on Friday and fly to Texas to compete in that night's truck race.

He'll return to Pocono and practice his Cup car Saturday before flying to Nashville to drive in the Nationwide race that night. He'll return to Pocono to drive in Sunday's Cup race.

TNT's season begins

TNT takes over broadcasting the Cup series starting this weekend and running through the Chicago race in mid-July. Bill Weber returns as the lead announcer with analysts Kyle Petty and Wally Dallenbach.

TNT again will air the July Daytona race with limited commercial breaks. Last year's broadcast missed only three green-flag laps with the same concept. New this year is a tie-in with www.nascar.com where fans can watch multiple camera angles of the race and e-mail questions to the announcers to be answered during the broadcast.

Add TV

Fox's ratings for NASCAR races increased 2 percent, breaking a two-year downturn.

Fox averaged a 5.7 national household rating for its 13 races this season compared to the 5.6 it scored last year. Viewership increased slightly from 9.3 million to 9.4 million this year. Eleven of the 13 races either grew or equaled last year's viewing levels, a first for NASCAR on Fox.

Together again

This weekend marks the return of Terry Labonte. He'll drive in the next five races for Petty Enterprises, driving for Petty while Petty is on the TNT broadcast.

The relief appearance pairs Labonte with his younger brother, Bobby, for the first time since 2005 when Terry Labonte ran five races for Joe Gibbs Racing when Bobby was there full time.

Dreamy

Tony Stewart's Prelude to a Dream is tonight at his Eldora Speedway in Ohio. The dirt track race matches some of the NASCAR's top drivers in a dirt late model race with the proceeds going to charity.

The event is available on pay-per-view. Cost is $24.95. For more information, go to www.hbo.com. Among the drivers set to compete are Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Busch and last year's winner Edwards.

Pit stops

Gordon has scored three consecutive top-five finishes, climbing from 13th in the points to sixth. ... After a recent seven-race stretch where he finished no worse than 10th, Clint Bowyer has not placed better than 15th in his last three Cup starts, falling from fourth to eighth in points.