TALLADEGA, Ala. — Maybe Joe Gibbs can afford to let Tony Stewart go.

The ol' coach already seems to have NASCAR's next star on his roster.

Kyle Busch did it again Sunday, this time conquering a track that had always given him fits. As he pulled into Victory Lane at Talladega Superspeedway, there appeared to be nothing this 22-year-old phenom can't do — even it means filling the shoes of his teammate Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion.

Busch has already won twice in nine races on the Cup circuit, trailing leader Jeff Burton by just 22 points. He's third on the second-tier Nationwide Series, right on the tail of Clint Bowyer and Carl Edwards, and was leading the Craftsman Truck Series until he missed a conflicting race in Kansas City, dropping him to sixth in the points.

In all, Busch has won seven races in the three series on tracks of all varieties — a road course, an intermediate track, a pseudo-short track and now a superspeedway.

"He's red hot," Gibbs said.

The Super Bowl-winning coach has put together a race team that rivals his glory years with the Washington Redskins. Busch, Stewart and Denny Hamlin are all in the top 10 a quarter of the way through the season.

But the Talladega weekend began with reports that Stewart wanted out, possibly as part of a deal to run his own team. Naturally, Gibbs wants to keep his dream team together — and his senior driver is under contract through 2009 — but he may face some hard financial decisions.

Just like he did when running an NFL team.

To borrow a football phrase, Gibbs would probably feel inclined to put the franchise tag on Busch instead of Stewart if forced to make a choice. Busch is 14 years younger than Smoke, and he's already shown himself to be a talented, fearless racer.

As good as Busch has been, he could have been even better. He was leading at Bristol when his power steering broke. Mechnical problems also plagued him at his hometown race in Las Vegas, where he started from the pole, and on the fender-banging short track at Martinsville.