As long as I’ve watched NASCAR, there hasn’t been a driver that’s been getting a lot of flak based on their success than Kyle Busch. He has 161 wins in NASCAR’s top three series (36 in Sprint Cup, 80 in Xfinity, 45 in Trucks), only second to Richard Petty with 200.
After winning the Duck Commander 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway Saturday, it’s safe to say that Kyle Busch is finally fully hitting his stride in Cup. Saturday’s win marked Kyle’s second straight victory and sweep as Kyle won both the Cup and Truck race at Martinsville in addition to his Cup win and the Xfinity race at Texas Friday.
In the first seven races of the Sprint Cup season, Kyle has finished in the top-five in six of them. His best start of his career and looking like the man to beat in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup this fall.
It's hard to imagine that it has been a year since his violent crash at Daytona, sidelining him for the first 11 races of the season and seemed that his days as the white knuckle driver was over.
When he came back in the all-star race at Charlotte, I wondered how Kyle's driving style will change and whether or not he'll have a career downfall like most drivers do when they come back. Kyle proved that it takes more than being a highlight reel every now and then, it takes courage and guts to make a comeback.
Kyle certainly did bounce back and not only won five races last year (including Sonoma which I attended in person), he finally won that elusive Cup title.
Playoff system aside, I don’t think there has been any driver to return from a leg injury and be able to become a much stronger competitor. Despite his insurmountable success since joining NASCAR at the age of 16 in 2001, people don’t see it that way.
To a lot of fans, Kyle Busch is nothing but a bratty punk that hates losing. Other words include he’s too cocky, arrogant, and a whiner because of his passion to win. Anything else to Kyle is pure utter disappointment. But who can blame him, he had a lot to prove when he came into the sport.
He was denied a full year in NASCAR after the 2001 season thanks to CART and the Masters Settlement Agreement where people under the age of 18 can’t partake at an event endorsing tobacco products (the CART race was titled the Marlboro 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California).
Kyle was also in the shadows of his older brother and 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt. So the pressure started high at a really young age and he had a stigma that he wants to be better than anyone else on the race track. Today, Kyle has indeed become better than Kurt when you look at his Cup Series numbers.
Besides his challenges, another complaint people have about Kyle’s career is the fact he wins too much in a lower racing series. Hogging up the spotlight of other guys who are competing for a championship such as his teammate Daniel Suarez and protégé Erik Jones. As of right now, there hasn’t been a Xfinity regular that has won this season.
I understand why fans don’t like the guy but like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, and Darrell Waltrip before him, sometime sooner or later, Kyle will start gaining respect from fans. I understand why people get frustrated with Cup guys winning in lower divisions which that’s an argument within itself.
But how about when Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt won several Xfinity Series (then known as the Busch Grand National Series) in the 1980s and 1990s? There weren’t much complaints like Kyle gets. I’ve learned over the past year that people indeed complained about those guys winning all the time. But without social media, you obviously won’t know until they tell you or even ask a fan who’s watched the sport longer than I have.
Kyle has been a guy that I actually enjoy watching over the years. I’ve always knew that he was going to be a NASCAR great. It may have taken him longer than he would have imagined but he’s slowly becoming a great whether fans want to admit it or not.
Personally, Kyle has the potential to end his career being a multi-time champion in Cup and likewise surpass Petty in all-time wins in the national series and he turns 31 in May.
As long as his frustrations that defined him in his early Cup career doesn’t get in the way, those accomplishments can easily happen. When we look back at his career, outside of his personality, he’s certainly a first ballot hall of famer that simply wants to win. There’s nothing wrong about it because it’s just part of the competitive nature called sports.
Kyle isn’t afraid to rub some fenders and make bold passes on the track that is missing from a lot of Cup drivers these days. A sport needs guys like Kyle who is aggressive and make some noise. There’s this notion that as long as people make noise for an athlete, you’re doing your job and of course Kyle gets a mixed reaction.
He has a no (explicit) given personality and likes to heel it up by doing the bow after each win. I don’t have an issue with that because that’s what makes the sport fun because we have drivers we want to root for or against.
Yes, he has done some questionable things like retaliate Ron Hornaday at Texas in 2010, ultimately costing Hornaday the championship and led to Kyle’s suspension. But I can let that moment go because now more than ever, he can win in Cup rather than being the guy known to win on Saturday and fail on Sunday.
With Tony Stewart retiring, Kyle and to some extent the Penske drivers (Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano) is all that have left as far as having mystique about them that makes fans hate them and want to see them lose.
Kyle is a true grit nature that people can’t ignore and it has been shown on the race track. He’s no longer in the shadows of his older brother, Kyle has built his own identity as a fun driver to watch which I’ve always knew and respect him for.
Writer's Note: This particular race I remember vividly and forever made me admire Kyle Busch and what he brings to the table.
