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Are The Fans Warming Up To Kyle Busch?
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
Another victory in more ways than one Saturday night under the lights for the
first time at Chicagoland Speedway as Kyle Busch pulled off his 7th win of
2008 in 19 races ran.
The second victory of sorts came when he passed Jimmie Johnson on the
closing laps and the crowd cheered a Dale Junior-esque roar for the no. 18 car.
There wasn’t another way that Kyle could have raced in the closing laps that could have proven him better to be the
real deal, like his crew chief Steve Addington said on the radio after the checkered flag waved, “That was you man,
that was all you.”
Perhaps the fans are warming up to Kyle Busch, the driver as he raced the no. 48 car cleanly after some ‘dirt-track’
tactics on the restart when Johnson bought the field to the line at a slow pace. Busch anticipated the move by
Johnson and wound up his normally aspirated Toyota power plant by pushing Johnson to the line which gave him
momentum and the RPM’s needed at the restart to jump to the high line and make the pass on the outside for the
lead which he never relinquished.
Love him or hate him is a phrase used all of the time, but maybe the saying should be ‘love his talent, hate his
attitude’. Even with his attitude, he reacted humbly in victory lane as he climbed from the car he extended his arms
out in front of him as if to indicate that he couldn’t believe it, another win.
Post race in the media center as he sat, his cocky side returned for just a moment as he greeted the reporters by
saying “hey, it’s been a long time”, but went on to recall his sentiments of disbelief at his seven wins. His explanation
of the final restart with two laps to go with Jimmie Johnson in the lead and himself in 2nd relayed exactly as it
appeared. “It’s an old dirt track move to bring the cars to the line slow, then take off and when the cars behind [the
leader] try to react they just spin the tires and you [the leader] just drive off and leave them. I just went ahead and got
going so when we crossed the [start/finish] line I was right there with him.” He went on to say that he would have
rather had the bottom line, but Johnson stayed down so he drove to the top. His momentum and car control was
enough to make the pass as the no. 48 car bobbled a couple of times after driving deep into turn 2.
When the question was asked of him as to what he thought about the fan’s reaction to him and what affect it has, his
one response that stood out the most was when he replied, “I wish they [the fans] liked me.” Not the sentiment of a
driver who is willingly wearing the black hat and tossing the criticism back in the faces of the ‘boo-birds’.
Kyle Busch can win over some fans with his talent, but there are some who will resent him even more the more he
wins. Of course, given the rule that you can only cheer for one driver doesn’t give him much opportunity for a large
following since he’s making the rest of the competitors look silly. There are some fans that want to cheer for a
winner, but perhaps it’s just some level of respect that is converting the boo-birds and beer can throwers to give
applause and cheers instead.
There is a certain level of importance in a driver making an identity for themselves or being involved in a dust-up
here and there because it gets them (and their sponsors) some media time, but Kyle doesn’t need that. He’s getting
talked about for winning and his sponsors are getting plenty of airtime without any extracurricular activities on or off
of the track.
His performance on the track is his saving grace (aside from when he spins out Dale Jr.), but perhaps he would be
better served if he ceased with the misconstrued ‘bow to the crowd’ as sometimes the fans interpret that as an in-
your-face response. There is a fine line between confident and cocky, which not personally knowing Kyle can be
hard to distinguish. His friends and family may shrug it off and say that’s just the way he is, he doesn’t mean anything
by it, but the fans don’t know that. Certain radio show hosts and announcers who are around him on a regular basis
say that he is just a regular guy, laid back and always a jokester. He’s not the same person that the fans perceive
him to be.
The bottom line is that there are some fans that are loyal to a fault to one driver and could care less about the other
42 competitors, but then there are some that have their favorite and yet secretly cheer for a handful of others that
they have respect for. The latter is where Kyle could draw from as the diehards aren’t going to convert no matter
what he does. Of course, Kyle isn’t the first driver to be disliked because he wins too much and probably will not be
the last. I doubt that he will be conceding any wins anytime soon in an effort to become more popular.
By: Gregg A. Shultz, RaceFanVote.com
Another victory in more ways than one Saturday night under the lights for the
first time at Chicagoland Speedway as Kyle Busch pulled off his 7th win of
2008 in 19 races ran.
The second victory of sorts came when he passed Jimmie Johnson on the
closing laps and the crowd cheered a Dale Junior-esque roar for the no. 18 car.
There wasn’t another way that Kyle could have raced in the closing laps that could have proven him better to be the
real deal, like his crew chief Steve Addington said on the radio after the checkered flag waved, “That was you man,
that was all you.”
Perhaps the fans are warming up to Kyle Busch, the driver as he raced the no. 48 car cleanly after some ‘dirt-track’
tactics on the restart when Johnson bought the field to the line at a slow pace. Busch anticipated the move by
Johnson and wound up his normally aspirated Toyota power plant by pushing Johnson to the line which gave him
momentum and the RPM’s needed at the restart to jump to the high line and make the pass on the outside for the
lead which he never relinquished.
Love him or hate him is a phrase used all of the time, but maybe the saying should be ‘love his talent, hate his
attitude’. Even with his attitude, he reacted humbly in victory lane as he climbed from the car he extended his arms
out in front of him as if to indicate that he couldn’t believe it, another win.
Post race in the media center as he sat, his cocky side returned for just a moment as he greeted the reporters by
saying “hey, it’s been a long time”, but went on to recall his sentiments of disbelief at his seven wins. His explanation
of the final restart with two laps to go with Jimmie Johnson in the lead and himself in 2nd relayed exactly as it
appeared. “It’s an old dirt track move to bring the cars to the line slow, then take off and when the cars behind [the
leader] try to react they just spin the tires and you [the leader] just drive off and leave them. I just went ahead and got
going so when we crossed the [start/finish] line I was right there with him.” He went on to say that he would have
rather had the bottom line, but Johnson stayed down so he drove to the top. His momentum and car control was
enough to make the pass as the no. 48 car bobbled a couple of times after driving deep into turn 2.
When the question was asked of him as to what he thought about the fan’s reaction to him and what affect it has, his
one response that stood out the most was when he replied, “I wish they [the fans] liked me.” Not the sentiment of a
driver who is willingly wearing the black hat and tossing the criticism back in the faces of the ‘boo-birds’.
Kyle Busch can win over some fans with his talent, but there are some who will resent him even more the more he
wins. Of course, given the rule that you can only cheer for one driver doesn’t give him much opportunity for a large
following since he’s making the rest of the competitors look silly. There are some fans that want to cheer for a
winner, but perhaps it’s just some level of respect that is converting the boo-birds and beer can throwers to give
applause and cheers instead.
There is a certain level of importance in a driver making an identity for themselves or being involved in a dust-up
here and there because it gets them (and their sponsors) some media time, but Kyle doesn’t need that. He’s getting
talked about for winning and his sponsors are getting plenty of airtime without any extracurricular activities on or off
of the track.
His performance on the track is his saving grace (aside from when he spins out Dale Jr.), but perhaps he would be
better served if he ceased with the misconstrued ‘bow to the crowd’ as sometimes the fans interpret that as an in-
your-face response. There is a fine line between confident and cocky, which not personally knowing Kyle can be
hard to distinguish. His friends and family may shrug it off and say that’s just the way he is, he doesn’t mean anything
by it, but the fans don’t know that. Certain radio show hosts and announcers who are around him on a regular basis
say that he is just a regular guy, laid back and always a jokester. He’s not the same person that the fans perceive
him to be.
The bottom line is that there are some fans that are loyal to a fault to one driver and could care less about the other
42 competitors, but then there are some that have their favorite and yet secretly cheer for a handful of others that
they have respect for. The latter is where Kyle could draw from as the diehards aren’t going to convert no matter
what he does. Of course, Kyle isn’t the first driver to be disliked because he wins too much and probably will not be
the last. I doubt that he will be conceding any wins anytime soon in an effort to become more popular.
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| Action Racing Collectibles Kyle Busch '08 M&M's #18 Camry, 1:24 (2934761) |
| Chase Authentics Kyle Busch Element Cap (3000260) |
