FONTANA, Calif. - Age is no longer an issue for Kyle Busch. For a while, his accomplishments were attributed to precocious driving. His mistakes? Simply youthful error. Now, starting his third Nextel Cup season and approaching 22, Busch is ready to be judged strictly on his merits.

Busch had a good week at Daytona, but a rookielike miscue on the last lap of Sunday's Daytona 500 ruined everything he had built to that point.

"We were running in second at the green-white-checkered finish and I was on Mark Martin's bumper pushing him because that was two Hendrick Motorsports engines working together," Busch said. "I tried to move up for a block (on Kevin Harvick), but it was too late.

"I settled back in line and when we went down the frontstretch I got loose from the air off the 17 car (Matt Kenseth) and went down to the apron and spun out."

Busch slid into Kenseth and a seven-car crash ensued. Harvick, ahead of the melee, outraced Martin to the finish line by the length of a hood to win the season-opening race. Busch couldn't even face the media following the race, scrambling out of his battered No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and walking off to be alone with his thoughts.

"It was the last lap of the biggest race of the year and there were five guys going for a win," said Busch, ready to bounce back in Sunday's Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. "It could have happened at any point during the race, but it happened then.

"I didn't want it to end that way and I know no one else did, either. It's unfortunate because we really stepped up this year and had a dominating performance throughout the entire week."

Busch held the lead in each of the four NASCAR events he entered at Daytona and led more laps (120) than any other driver during the nine-day stretch. He led 39 laps in the Budweiser Shootout, 31 in his 150-mile qualifying race, 46 in the Busch Series race and four in the Daytona 500.

He finished seventh in the Shootout, fourth in his qualifier, 37th in the Busch race ¡ª thanks to a faulty fuel pump ¡ª and 24th in the 500.

"That certainly wasn't what we expected going into Daytona," Busch said. "This team is capable of better, and so is the driver. Now, we just have to put that behind us and get ourselves headed in the right direction. Fontana is a good place to make that happen."

Busch, along with Hendrick teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, will be among the favorites at California speedway, a track where he has already had some success.

In a six-race introduction to Nextel Cup in 2004, a 24th-place finish in September at California Speedway was his best finish.

On the way to the rookie of the year in 2005, Busch earned his first Cup pole on the 2-mile oval at Fontana in February and his first victory in September. Last year, he had finishes of 10th and eighth at the two California events.

"I like the flatness of California," Busch said, referring to the banking that ranges from 3 degrees on the backstretch to 14-degrees in the turns. "I grew up on a relatively flat track at the Las Vegas Bullring and I've done well at New Hampshire and Phoenix, so I guess it just suits my style of driving."

Alan Gustafson, Busch's crew chief, is also looking for a considerably better result.

"I think we've shown our potential at California in the past. ... I think Daytona showed a good dose of what is to come from this team.

"It's too bad we didn't finish the deal, but Kyle figured out the draft, the team did their job and everything was in line to win that race. This week, we're going to a racetrack where we can win and we're taking a really good car. So we hope to have at least a top-five finish."