Driver Kurt Busch, left, talks with Jeff Gordon in the garage of the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series during Preseason Testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Tuesday. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, John Raoux) DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch and four-time NASCAR king Jeff Gordon were among those on the track Tuesday in the opening round of preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway.

‘‘Already I’m reminded of what we did last year at this test,’’ Busch said. ‘‘But yet now we come back as champions and we have a new approach. It’s already begun to change things and how we look at it as a team, too.’’

Busch took last year’s title by winning the inaugural Chase for the Nextel Cup, a 10-race, 10-man shootout at the end of the season. He barely held off Jimmie Johnson and Gordon, beating the Hendrick Motorsports teammates in the closest championship battle in NASCAR history.

‘‘One good thing about a champion is you keep that same buzz, that same vibe, all year,’’ Busch said.

The first-time champ also got a big kick out of the way he was greeted Tuesday by NASCAR president Mike Helton.

‘‘To come back here today and to see Mike Helton and to have him refer to me as ‘Champ,’ it’s here,’’ Busch said. ‘‘It’s now, it’s great and it’s time to go to work.’’

Gordon, whose last championship came in 2001, was eager to get started on the new season.

‘‘Now it’s ‘Drive for five in ’05,’ and maybe this will be the year that we get it,’’ Gordon said. ‘‘Now I think preseason testing is crucial.

‘‘The first three or four years we’d do Cup testing, I’d look forward to it. Then there was a period of time where I’d dread it. And I just realized how important it is to be behind the wheel of the car, getting laps and getting the team information.”

The three days of testing this week at Daytona are limited to teams that finished in odd-number positions in the 2004 Cup owners’ points. Those in even-numbered positions, including Johnson, will test next week.

The season begins with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 20.