By Ron Kantowski

Sat, Oct 11, 2008 (2 a.m.)

When he was in junior high school, Kurt Busch, who has become the forgotten of the two NASCAR racing Busch siblings from Las Vegas, used to race home to watch the Chicago Cubs play baseball.

“I’d hurry home after school and turn on the TV to WGN in Chicago — it was Channel 16 on the cable way back then and it still is,” Busch said during an interview a couple of months ago. “I’d grab my baseball glove, put on my Cubs cap, hop into my dad’s easy chair and tune in to watch my favorite sport and my favorite team.

“There was nothing like it in the whole world. We might have been living in Vegas back then, but my heart was really right there in Wrigley Field. I just imagined taking the field with my all-time favorites, like Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Rafael Palmeiro, Vance Law, Shawon Dunston and all the others.”

Wait a minute — did he say Vance Law?

Busch won the NASCAR championship in 2004, which was almost as big a thrill as singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field, which he has done a couple of times.

But it should have been his kid brother, Kyle.

Kurt is the big Cubs fan, but Kyle’s season has mirrored the Cubs’. He was virtually unbeatable during the regular season. Then when the playoffs started, it was three and out — or at least one and done.

Kyle was considered the man to beat until finishing 34th in the first of 10 races that make up the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Since then, he has finished 43rd, 28th and 15th to tumble from first to 11th in the standings.

It’s not all his fault — in fact, most of it isn’t his fault, as a series of mechanical problems have turned the young lead foot into a spectator in the championship battle.

But the similarities between his season and that of the Cubs’ are more frightening than James Loney coming to bat against Ryan Dempster with the bases loaded.