Kyle Busch has been NASCARs main “villain” in the sport since he spun Dale Jr. at Richmond while fighting for a lead while Jr. was going for his first win at Hendrick Motorsports. Since then Busch has a track record of being one of the most hated drivers in the sport. Although his hate has somewhat receded after his win at Texas in 2020 and the amazing Instagram stories called “KFB Summer ” during the 2 week Olympic break really had fans warming up to him. As per usual with Kyle Busch however the second stuff goes right for him with the fans and it goes horribly wrong. He makes it very hard to be a Busch fan and defend the fact that he has matured. It has gotten to the point this season where he may have cost himself a spot in the playoffs.
Last week at Darlington NASCAR Cup Series drivers started their playoff races with the toughest track on the schedule in one of the hardest races, the Southern 500. Kyle Busch is one of the drivers that many fans, despite their hate for him, are predicting that Busch can make a deep run into the playoffs this year and maybe even be in the fight for a championship. In the middle of the race Busch was running side by side with Austin Dillon and made contact, first with the #3 cars and then with the outside wall hitting his right rear quarter panel on the wall and causing a caution. While the damage to the car was really bad, it was not terminal damage. As a playoff driver, every point should matter, that did not seem like the case for Bucsh as he took his car straight down pit road and right into the garage. His path to the garage however was very dangerous and unsafe. Barreling right through cones and into pedestrians and employees moving around in what they thought was a safe space due to the cones not allowing cars through. Busch carried his temper tantrum all the way to his hauler where he parked his car and was done for the night.
Busch then kept it up during his interview where he said “shit” twice. Normally nobody would care that a driver cursed, they are people and no matter what you think, they curse. Dale Jr. did point out that the last time he cursed on a TV interview, it not only cost him money, but it cost him points that would hurt his championship hopes and could be what cost him the Cup Series that year.
Busch has not gone without punishment however, he has been fined $50,000 for his actions on pit road, NASCAR has not come out and said anything about the way that he acted in the interview yet. Busch is now down $50,000 but is also sitting below the cut line, a place he could have avoided if he did not leave the race early and limped his car to the finish and now needs to perform very well at Richmond and Bristol if he wants his playoff hopes to make it another round.
The Slow Restart 