May 6, 2008
By Allen Madding
Kyle Busch self-labeled “Rowdy” Busch has been busy earning himself a reputation as a rough and rowdy driver in NASCAR competition with little regard for his competitors. Busch has logged several on-track altercations in all three of the NASCAR Series and a handful of off-track confrontations. Busch is obviously determined to intimidate the competition.
In 2006, Busch rammed the car of Rick Mears under a red flag in the Subway Fresh 500 at Phoenix displaying his lack of self-control and even crashed his own brother out of the 2007 All-Star race at Charlotte.
Busch has made no bones about his driving style and was unapologetic after spinning Johnny Benson to gain a second place finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway in April making it quite apparent that he does not mind stooping to any level, for not only a win, but also a second place finish.
Everyone expected fireworks to erupt at Richmond and if there were going to be fireworks in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, certainly Kyle Busch would have to be involved. Steven Wallace had earned a reputation last season for crashing cars and being on the edge of out of control. But at Richmond, we saw a different more polished Wallace who made carefully calculated moves working from 25th into the top-five in the final laps of the Lipton Tea 250.
A yellow flag with five laps to go set up a NASCAR green-white-checker finish.
On the final lap, Wallace hit Busch from the rear. Mind you Busch did not get spun like the move he made on Benson at Martinsville, just got tagged on the straightaway by a faster car. Wallace then got off into turn three with too much momentum, slid up and provided an opening for Busch and David Ragan to slip by and beat him back to the checkered flag. Pretty harmless contact considering the contact Busch has instigated over the last couple of seasons, but Busch was irate.
Upset by the contact on the closing lap, Busch set off to confront Wallace after the event and located him still in his car on pit road. Busch stuck his head in the window of the No. 66 and began one of his typical tirades. But Busch found a little more than he was looking for when he confronted Wallace. Instead of being intimidated by the young hothead, Wallace grabbed the chin of Busch’s helmet and explained a few things to him. Busch might want to choose carefully in the future when he goes to shoot his mouth off and ensure his ten-cent butt can back up his motor mouth.
Steven Wallace or another one of the Nationwide Series competitors might give him a personal experience similar to the one his brother Kurt had with Jimmy Spencer.
If you are going to live by the sword, you certainly might die by the sword. If Kyle Busch chooses to revel in his rough driving style, he will need to learn to take a little on the chin when it comes back his way.
After the Sprint Cup Series event on Saturday night, Trent Cherry, an Earnhardt team member, confronted Busch to comment on his actions on the track, much like Busch confronted Steven Wallace on Friday night. Busch claimed on television that Cherry was out of line for expressing his dismay with Busch's driving tactics.
Busch's lambasting someone for doing the same thing he did the night prior made him look even more myopic than ever.
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