Burning Busch
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM


Everyone, it seems, has something to say about Kyle Busch these days, though for all the wrong reasons. Very little of what's being said about this young man is endearing.

Even the sweet little ol' blue-hairs on the Avis bus Monday morning freely referred to him as "Shrub." And when they did none grinned, which tells me they weren't being cute. Any silliness the label may once have carried had long worn off. To them Kyle Busch is, indeed, Shrub.
 
One of the ladies, a tall, slender type in glasses, whose white hair was camouflaged against a dress of the same hue, was thrilled with Busch's third-place finish in the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400. She'd installed him in her fantasy lineup and praised him for so dynamically impacting her weekend.

Then came the "but..."

"Too bad he's such a jerk," she said.

The Tony Stewart fan seated alongside them, a gruff type whose droopy eyes and frustrated tone suggested gambling had supplanted sleep in recent days, nodded easily in agreement. His wife, a bit more fresh-faced and clad head-to-toe in Ryan Newman attire, clenched her jaw noticeably, presumably also in agreement.

For whatever reason, this fascinated me. Some folks really don't like this kid. And not just fans. NASCAR has tired of Busch's attitude. The media is on him like a duck on a June bug. And worst of all his peers have openly questioned his aggression.

But no one can question his talent. I don't care if you think he's Satan, you can't deny the boy is a shoe. (For the newbies -- shoe: see also, very good driver; wheelman.)

That's precisely why I wish he'd embrace the bad boy role. Who cares if they don't like me?

NASCAR needs a brash, cocky driver that respectfully questions the establishment and hisses at criticism. But he must be successful. This is key. A guy can run his mouth off all day long, but nobody's listening if he's running 30th every weekend.

Busch isn't running 30th. He's waxing people like Madame Tussaud. And if he'd let the riptide of disdain carry him, we might just have a villain on our hands and Busch might be more popular. It's why so many fans love Stewart. He's raw racing. That old Stewart ire is back.
 
And I'm not naďve. Executives at Hendrick Motorsports and Kellogg's are cringing right now. Busch as bad boy is the last thing they want. We're three races in and they're already exhausted from putting out his fires.

This is corporate NASCAR. Desperados aren't welcome. Like his older brother, Kurt, Kyle Busch will eventually be media-trained to the point that strategic musings replace raw honesty.

And I completely understand why corporate America wants it that way. Most folks in the cereal aisle like their role models just like they like their Raisin Bran -- wholesome. Controversy is not attractive to eight-figure investors.

But remember how much you despised Ol' DW back in the '80s, how you'd tune in just to see what absurdity he'd mutter next? Remember how much fun it was to watch him and Earnhardt go back-and-forth?

Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart could easily revive that tradition. They're trading jabs on the track and in the media. And it's genuine. The rivalry is budding.

I don't watch Yankees/Red Sox because I like the Yankees or the Red Sox, rather because the teams and those that cheer them so outwardly detest one another. It is must-see-TV. Though on an alternate scale, Busch/Stewart would be, too.

And again, today's NASCAR isn't conducive to such relationships. But man some good old-fashioned healthy hatred sure would be fun. A lot of fans wouldn't mind some dirt on that squeaky clean image.

On to your emails... First, one pertaining to today's lead topic:
 
Tell Kyle to continue driving as he has and tell him to tell Tony to go to hell. Tony is a bully and a spoiled brat. What he does is OK but what others do is not. BS. Why does he think he is the traffic cop? If being a two-time champ, what is Jeff Gordon? NOBODY gives Jeff a free pass. Everyone races Jeff hard. -- Papa Charlie, Weirsdale, Fla.

Papa Charlie raises an interesting question that only a competitor can answer: Where, and how fine, is the line between competition and courtesy? I'll have to follow up on that one when I get off this bird.

Stewart said Sunday he was upset with Kyle Busch for failing to move out of the way and wave him by with some 80 laps remaining in the UAW-Daimler Chrysler 400. Waving faster competitors by is an unwritten courtesy among many drivers early in events.

As with anything, some are much more accommodating than others. And after the last pit stop, though, there is no place for courtesy. Stewart bounced off the fence trying to pass Busch late in the race. He wasn't upset about that. It was after the final stop.

But he was livid about Busch's unwillingness to move over earlier. Busch said he had no choice, that his car was evil in dirty air and moving over would make it that much worse.

I hope you can settle this debate for me -- did Geoff Bodine win a championship in the Cup Series back in the 80s? I say not. Someone at the local tavern says he did. Help! -- Rosemary Haussig, Dale Jr. fan

You are correct, Rosemary. Bodine never won a championship. Never really came close. He finished third in 1990, 413 points short of champion Dale Earnhardt. That effort, the best effort of his career, capped a seven-year run that included six top-10 points finishes.

It only went downhill from there for the 18-time Cup Series winner. Bodine never finished better than 14th again.

What's going on, Marty? How about snow, sleet AND yes, FREEZING RAIN in VEGAS!! You've harped on freezing rain in Rockingham in February for two weeks now and it SNOWED in MARCH in VEGAS. I think it's finally time to let that alibi go of why NASCAR moved the Rockingham race.

Now, let's move on to the other thing you have been sure to instill in the readers minds for the past two weeks -- a Rockingham in Seattle. Now there's an idea. Lets have a race in a city where it's been raining for fifty eleven days in a row.

It'll be the first race in history that's in a rain delay for three months! They'll be sending those haulers out there and flying in jets on one Thursday afternoon that the sun is forecasted to pop out for 30 minutes! Then they get there, and guess what? No, not freezing rain, but just plain rain!

Then they've traveled 3,000 miles just to travel 3,000 miles back home. Here's an idea, how about the world's first indoor track in Seattle with a Rockingham surface! Yeah, that's a great idea! Only thing is, hope Seattle has enough morgues to handle all the fans that die from carbon monoxide poisoning!

This is just some fun observations. I know you won't post this because it's questioning your articles, but I just wanted you to know I really do enjoy your articles -- Shane

Couple things, here. First, I've never cited weather as reasoning for Rockingham's demise, rather stated that the February freeze in Rockingham, N.C., stinks, and that a better race date with better weather may have assisted the track in selling out to capacity. Which leads me to the true reason The Rock perished -- they couldn't sell out.

And neither does Fontana, you scream! True, but again 40,000 full seats at The Rock compared to 70-75,000 at California Speedway is a no-brainer for ISC.

Secondly, regarding Seattle. Hate to tell you, Shane, but I'm not the guy that made the decision to build a track out there, though I appreciate the credit. International Speedway Corp. and NASCAR want that market. There's nothing we can do about it -- except lobby to build a track conducive to stellar competition.

And lastly, to the readers. Shane's epic made the cut today because I found it quite humorous. Some may view its inclusion as a waste of time and space. I view it as welcome comic relief for all.

I have been waiting for someone to correlate Jeff Gordon's fall from grace (namely his horrid racing after such a good start last year) to his terrible rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" at Wrigley Field last year.

Do you think the Curse of the Goat is on Jeff? The Cubs were playing the Astros when Jeff sang and I happened to be watching the game -- being a Jeff Gordon fan I must say it was embarrassing to watch.

It just seems that after that night Jeff's driving and/or luck seemed to be as bad as his singing. Jerry Inman, Houston, Texas

All Gordon fans loathe the Wrigley Stadium jokes, but your theory holds water with me, Jerry. The Take Me Out to the Ballgame massacre occurred on May 24, 2005. Prior to that, Gordon was dialed in. He nearly won the inaugural Chase in 2004, finishing just 16 points behind champ Kurt Busch in third position.

Then he opened the 2005 season by winning three of the first nine races, including the Daytona 500. He finished second at Talladega in season's 10th event to move into second in the championship standings. Then came the Wrigley train wreck, after which it got ugly for Gordon.

He finished 30th or worse in five of the next seven events to drop to 15th in points. Following a sixth-place run at Bristol Motor Speedway, Gordon moved at into the top-10 in points, but it was short-lived. He dropped to 16th after wrecking out at Talladega, and further to 17th after a wreck at LMS.

But three top-fives and four top-10s in the final five races, including a win at Martinsville, lifted him to 11th overall in the final standings.

This season has started slow. He hasn't been dominant. But more than one competitor told me Friday at Vegas he had the car to beat. He finished fifth.

Maybe a truck hit that goat.

The opinions expressed are solely of the writer.