BEN BRUST TITLE W
isconsin's Ben Brust is equally adept at detailing the differences between a scorer and a shooter in basketball or outlining the similarities between Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart in NASCAR.
"He's a unique kid," said UW associate head coach Greg Gard. That uniqueness extends to Brust's potential role this season with the Badgers.
"He's going to play and I think he's going to play a lot,'' Gard said. "Whether he's in the starting line- up or coming off the bench, he's definitely going to give us some offensive punch.''
That uniqueness extends
to Brust's passion for NAS- CAR and his allegiance to Harvick.
"He's talking a foreign language to us,'' said Gard, speaking for the staff and Brust's teammates. "They laugh at me,'' said
Brust who has Harvick's No. 29 flag hanging in his room. By his own admission,
Brust was one of them — a NASCAR hater — up until 18 months ago. "My brother-in-law had
it on TV and I was like, 'What's this doing on?''' Brust recalled. "I had no interest in it. I was like everyone on the team, 'They just race around in circles' blah, blah, blah. "But I actually sat down with him and I start-
ed watching the race and asking him questions about it and I really got interested. And it just took off from there.'' In turn, Twitter opened his eyes — and some
doors — to the world of NASCAR. Brust be- came friends with Harvick's business manager and Harvick has since begun following Brust on Twitter. In late July, Brust attended the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. In mid-August, he saw Harvick win the Camping World Truck Series VFW 200 at the Michigan International Speedway.
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"It's just crazy how Twitter works, that I was able to meet all these people'' said Brust of how he came to meet favorite driver Kevin Harvick. "I never imagined it would open so many doors.''
Through Twitter, he has gotten to be friends
with the former spotter of Dale Earnhardt and sportswriter Jim Utter, who covers NASCAR for the Charlotte Observer and ThatsRacin.com.
