LAS VEGAS -- For all he's accomplished behind a steering wheel, Kyle Busch has a rather limited open-wheel resume. Dwarf cars out at old Pahrump Valley Speedway. Legends cars at the Bullring, the .375-mile facility on the grounds of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A few modified events. A handful of laps in a sprint car as a 14-year-old, as part of an exhibition to promote an event coming to town.

But that wouldn't stop him from listening should the organizers of a planned American-based Formula One team call. Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor recently announced their plans to launch an F1 organization based in Charlotte, N.C., and field seats for two American drivers beginning in 2010. Their long wish list of drivers reportedly includes current IndyCar pilots Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti, Jonathan Summerton of the European A1GP series, and Busch, who won eight times last year in NASCAR's premier division.

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I wouldn't mind trying IndyCars and running the Indianapolis 500 once, or running Formula One. But it's not quite time for me to do that yet. If I can win a championship here in the next two or three years, then I wouldn't mind going over there.

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-- KYLE BUSCH

Busch has long been intrigued by the F1 circuit. The 23-year-old Las Vegas native was scheduled to take some laps in an F1 car at Motegi, Japan this past offseason for Toyota, the manufacturer that also backs his Joe Gibbs Racing team on the Sprint Cup tour. That trip had to be cancelled due to a conflict with the Nationwide Series banquet, much to Busch's chagrin. Although Busch said Friday he hasn't been contacted by anyone from the USF1 organization, if they want to talk, he'll listen (watch video).

"I'd toss the idea around. It's definitely something I wouldn't shoot down," said Busch, whose current contract with the Gibbs team runs through 2010. "But I don't think it's the right time yet in my career and where I'm at. I'm happy with where I'm at. Obviously the focus here is to go for Nationwide and Cup wins and championships and compete for championships, try to dismantle Jimmie [Johnson] off the top. It's something I'd love to give a shot one day. Toyota gave me the opportunity to go over there last fall and do a test at (Motegi), but we weren't able to get there. Hopefully one of these days I'll get the chance to drive one and see if I'm any good at it."

The American-based F1 team will be owned by Anderson, who worked on the circuit in the 1980s, and Windsor, a former team manager for Ferrari and Williams and now a pit reporter for U.S. television broadcasts. There hasn't been an American driver in the series since the departure of Scott Speed, who drove for a Red Bull-backed outfit from 2005-07 before jumping to NASCAR. Prior to that, the last American on the circuit was Michael Andretti in 1993.

For Busch, major open-wheel racing -- whether it's F1 or an American-based series -- has never been part of the career plan. He followed older brother Kurt into NASCAR and became an immediate success, progressing so quickly that the sanctioning body implemented an age limit. He was a winner on the Nationwide circuit at 18, a multiple winner on the Cup level at 20, and established himself as a championship contender last year. But as a driver who came up racing various types of automobiles -- and even today competes regularly in all three of NASCAR's national circuits -- he's always been curious about the other side.

"It's something I wouldn't mind trying," he said. "I wouldn't mind trying IndyCars and running the Indianapolis 500 once, or running Formula One. But like I said, it's not quite time for me to do that yet. If I can win a championship here in the next two or three years, then I wouldn't mind going over there and doing that, trying it for a few years, and coming back. I think I'd still be young enough where if I could win a championship by 25, go run Formula One for a couple of years, be back by 28, I've still got plenty of time left to run in NASCAR. That's just what I see, but a lot of things would have to work out for that to happen. You'd have to be guaranteed a spot with a team to come back with and stuff. So that's not always possible. But I don't know."

In recent years several prominent open-wheel drivers have migrated to NASCAR, only to struggle or experience only a fraction of the success they enjoyed in the IndyCar or F1 circuits. Making the transition in the other direction, Busch believes, might be less arduous.

"How much a change would be it? It's going to be a big change," he said. "I feel like it's probably easier to go that route than it is for those guys to come this route, because these cars have less downforce, less grip, more weight on the car, less technical advancements and things like that. To me it seems like it would be a lot easier to drive a car that's fully equipped. It's kind of like getting a Volkswagen Beetle verses a Ferrari. Those are kind of the differences."