Kyle Busch may be the driver who brings out the greatest number of love/hate reactions of any driver in recent memory. Some fans point out his undeniable talent to drive race cars. Others will point to his many meltdowns as reasons why Busch has not, and in many opinions, will not win a Sprint Cup Championship.
There is one thing Kyle Busch is not: Boring. In a sport crying for some character the last several seasons, Kyle Busch is doing his best. On Saturday night, yet another Kyle Busch moment came to the forefront.
With about 50 laps remaining in the Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Busch was not very happy with his night. Having suffered the embarrassment of a Pit Road speeding penalty and a crash which disabled his car, he said on the radio, “I need a whole new right front suspension. I’ll be behind the wall in about 2 (expletive) laps”.
Dave Rogers, Busch’s Crew Chief angrily replied, “Park it behind the truck (hauler) and take your whiny little ass to the bus.”
Busch responded by bringing his car to pit road, parking the car there and stomped away. Team owner Joe Gibbs replied afterwards that it was a heat of the moment thing and everything was fine between Rogers and Busch. Yeah, right.
On the Busch scale of incidents, this one doesn’t even reach the top 5. Let’s take a look at some of the bigger Busch blow-ups:
1) On May 24, 2011, Busch was cited for reckless driving and speeding in North Carolina. He was clocked driving a Lexus LFA at 128 mph (206 km/h) in a 45 mph (72 km/h) zone. Busch issued an apology, paid a $1,000 fine and did 30 hours of community service. This wasn’t his only run in with the law. In April of 2014, Busch was again ticketed for speeding. This time he was only cited going 60 mph (97 km/h) in a 45 mph (72 km/h) zone. The officer involved in that incident said Busch had a “disrespectful attitude”.
2) On November 4, 2011, Busch purposely wrecked Ron Hornaday during a caution in a NASCAR Camping World Truck race at Texas Motor Speedway. Making the matter worse was that Hornaday, a regular driver in the Truck Series, was a serious contender for that Championship. Busch was sent home for the weekend by NASCAR and not allowed to race in that weekends Nationwide or Sprint Cup races. Busch apologized for the incident.
3) After the completion of the Sprint Cup Race at Darlington in May of 2011, Busch got into a heated discussion with Kevin Harvick. Harvick attempted to swing at Busch and Busch retaliated by pushing the unoccupied car of Harvick on pit road, nearly striking various crew members and officials. Both Harvick and Busch were fined $25,000 and put on probation by NASCAR.
4) In October of 2012, Busch, after leading over 300 laps ran out of fuel at Dover International Speedway. Busch reacted on the radio saying, “Thank you TRD (makers of his motor)! (F Bomb) us out of another one. Piece of sh** (f bomb) motors!” Toyota was none too happy with Busch who quickly offered an apology.
5) OK, this one really isn’t on Kyle Busch, but it really was a very entertaining moment in NASCAR. Brad Keslowski, feuding with Busch for several weeks, showed his displeasure with his rival. During driver introduction at Bristol in April 2011, Keslowski yelled, “Kyle Busch is an ass’. The response from the huge crowd in Bristol was loud and thunderous. Funny stuff.
NASCAR has always had characters. It’s part of the charm of our sport. People have complained for years about the bland but super talented Jimmie Johnson. Before that Jeff Gordon was boring while winning race after race. I think it’s great for the sport to have some colorful characters and Kyle Busch is all of that and more.
I don’t know if his attitude is keeping him from winning a championship or not, but outside of the reckless driving issue, I don’t want him to change. He might be just what NASCAR needs.
On to Atlanta we go. My picks:
1) Kasey Kahne
2) Jeff Gordon
3) Kyle Busch
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