August 24th, 2010 
Journo Were you booing or cheering Friday night?
There is nothing like a crowd at Bristol displaying their like, or in this case dislike, for a driver. Their opinion is deafening. And honestly, it was fantastic.
No matter your feelings toward Kyle Busch, chances are you aren’t indifferent about him. And he’s exactly what NASCAR needs right now – a polarizing figure who can win.
For all the improvements NASCAR has made to the sport in the last several months, there really isn’t anything they can do get moments like that – most especially, there is nothing they can do to cultivate drivers like that.
Ed Hinton wrote a great column last week about his search for what plagued NASCAR fans. His determination? NASCARmyalgia. You all have aches, but no one really knows for sure what the problem is. It’s funny, but it rings so completely true.
I think moments like Friday night are a good remedy, but we need more guys like Kyle Busch – that is more guys who are willing to express themselves and relish the position they have in the sport, and then back it up with wins – to do that on Sunday. Fans desperately want and need drivers they can cheer for, and against right now.
Thankfully for us NASCAR is allowing drivers to show a little personality on track, which is translating to personality off the track. While the action this weekend was unfortunately on Friday night (and Wednesday night too), the conflict was still apparent on Saturday night. Did you hear the driver intros? Awesome.
Right now Kyle is injecting a little bit of spice into a sport that desperately needs it. While I think it’s hard to disagree that the racing is some of the best its ever been, it’s hard to say, personality wise, things are as good as they could be.
Though things aren’t perfect right now, and they really never will be, these moments of dogged fight, and boiled over frustrations really make it all worth while.
Thank goodness we’ve got a guy like Kyle Busch to help bring some drama into our beloved sport. Now where is everybody else?
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Carl Edwards is doing the personality thing right but he hasnt gotten those wins yet. As an Edwards fan I am happy that he is taking advantage of “Boys Have at It”. Some of you might argue that he has taken it to far, but look at Gateway. When he wrecked Brad look at all the attention NASCAR got. I truly wonder how many more people watched INDY because they were wondering if it would happen again. Same thing with Bristol on Saturday Night. Because it’s Bristol, fans were waiting for Brad to stay true to his words. Now Brad dissapointed ALL OF US when he didnt take Kyle out but hey now at least everytime Kyle runs the Triple the announcers dont have to say, “Is this Kyle’s Weekend?” Plus to throw a jab at Jimmie Johnson, Thank You so much Juan Pablo Montoya for wrecking him! Then I watched more intensly well till 5 laps to when I turned it off. Anyway that’s my take on it.
Good question. I wish they’d man up and show a little spunk.
Kyle talks smack, races hard, sometimes rough… and he gets it done.
Someone was whining to me about his brother Kurt Busch being rough and what not… saying that was no way to make friends. I laughed and said ‘dale earnhardt and richard petty didn’t have friends either on the track, they had championships… now, what are they here for? To be liked or to make it happen?”
Congrats to Kyle on his sweep at Bristol… that is really something else…. even if he does drive a Toyota.
I think he’s learning to get what he can on that particular race day(like it or not) and to think big picture… if they hit on some consistency, he’s gonna be something else.
If he still drove a Chevy, I might have to root for him… as it is, I hope he gets DNF’s the rest of the year!
Only kidding! But, someone who isn’t Jimmie Johnson needs to pass him with a Chevy!
Bow-ties forever!
-W
I’m not a Kyle Busch fan. Every time I think I might want to be, he says or does something stupid and makes me shake my head again. That being said, he is one hell of a race driver, and his weekend sweep at Bristol is a tremendous accomplishment, no question, no qualification.
As for Keselowski, I think he and Kyle are two of a kind. Brad’s taking his lumps, but you get the feeling he’s going to stick around and come out of it stronger. The drivers will sort all this out among themselves, and some new brash kid will come along and we’ll start all over again.
I’ve been watching the brash new kids come around for nearly 40 years, and a few made it big
Takes an immensely talented & lucky driver to do something nearly nobody else has attempted (Kevin Harvick has taken a shot). Kyle did it, and I think he fits that description. We’ll see if anyone else ever tries, it’s only cool when you’re the first to do something… oh wait, that’s not true, look at all the records Kyle took down last year, ie winning a Cup race on your birthday?? LOL
PS its a bonus to like a driver off track, and I like both Kyle & Brad. Two smart & generous guys there.
If Kyle were still at HMS he would not have won the trifecta.
I am a 48 year old women, who became a huge NASCAR fan because of Kyle Busch.
Love this Young Man-his amazing talent, his humor, his I don’t give a crap attitude, his amazing driving skills, what he does for his fans and kids.
On Saturday look at the difference on how Jeff G acted when he got booed and how Kyle gave it right back to the crowd.
I was at Bristol for all 3 races. Watching him come from the back on Wednesday–amazing. Winning on Friday-and taunting the “haters”-fantastic. Watching him dominate on Saturday, shutting up the “haters”. And listening to the cheers and the “Rowdy Busch” song –priceless
PH You would think you read my mind. Much older than you and I think Kyle is IT. Kyle made me a permanet fixture of Nascar. Can’t wait to see his next record.
I wouldn’t confuse the profuse booing after BK got turned the last couple of times as some sort of fan protest because people hate the drivers who did it to him.
The booing was because people paid to see a race, not a destruction derby.
As for Kyle, he’s a mixed bag. One of the better racers out there with periods of pure brilliance, but he apparently he buys into the “boys have at it = fans want crashes” mentality.
I think this personality cult and anti-cult stuff really makes NASCAR fans look…stupid. Maybe I am getting old and grumpy, but if I wanted to see overprivileged brats behave like children (not just Kyle) I would watch reality shows on MTV. Is this all our sport has become? I don’t watch The Real World, I don’t watch Survivor, I don’t watch Jersey Shore, and it’s looking like I won’t be watching NASCAR much longer either. It’s so ridiculus I am almost ashamed to admit I was ever a NASCAR fan to begin with. Not to mention that with fake cautions, double file restarts, spec cars, wave arounds, and start and parks it barely qualifies as a sport anymore. The only redeeming feature left is the talent and ability of the drivers and crew, but all that is sqandered for the sake of “the show” to generate random results and artificially close finishes.