August 23, 2010
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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It is pretty rare in a sport that has been around for 60 years to find yourself presented with a “first” in any achievement. Last year, we had our first four-time in a row Champion. This weekend, we were introduced to our first-ever weekend sweep in all three or NASCAR’s top series.
In both cases, the driver involved is seemingly on the “lower end” of driver overall popularity, yet, it doesn’t diminish the accomplishment
Kyle Busch was able to do something that no other driver in NASCAR has ever done. On Saturday night he closed out a weekend having won the Camping World Truck Series race Wednesday night, the Nationwide Series race Friday night, and the Sprint Cup Series Saturday night.
It is not an easy feat to accomplish; first of all, you have to have all three series racing in one weekend. Next the driver has to compete in all three. Finally, you have to be in good equipment and be able to run up front and stay out of any of the wrecks -- not of your own making. Somehow, he avoided being involved in a record 13 cautions Wednesday night; he caused the most talked about wreck Friday night; and avoided the gremlins that struck down other drivers Saturday night.
“It's pretty cool because when you come so close and then don't get it, it's pretty frustrating. I mean, last year we won the truck race and were leading the Nationwide race and we got crashed out, and then we ended up winning the Cup race,” explained Busch after winning Saturday night’s race. “I feel like I just come out here to do my job. I do what I'm supposed to do, and to win races is my job and what that entails.”
Even the driver he beat for the win recognizes the importance of the accomplishment this weekend. “It's pretty remarkable what he's been able to do this weekend, especially with owning his own truck team,” said Jamie McMurray after the race Saturday. “I know that's been fairly stressful for him. And obviously the Nationwide, it's -- I don't know, it's amazing how many races they can win in that car. But then to be able to come out tonight and win again, he obviously has a really good feel for this place, and he just had a really good weekend. He's been close to doing that before, so that's really impressive what Kyle has been able to do.”
Busch knows that it isn’t just the driver, but the team that helps him to win. He says it is because of the need to have all things click in place that he is so hard on his team -- something he has been criticized for repeatedly in recent years. “I'm hard on myself and I might be hard on my guys. But it boils down to wanting the desire, the desire to win, wanting to win, and just trying to work more towards our goal.”
Team owner J.D. Gibbs is proud of his teams’ accomplishment, and recognizes the historical impact of what he has done. “I think this weekend, that probably was appropriate, doing what he did, the first time, the truck thing, gets a little harder (in) Nationwide and a little harder for the Cup thing, and to do all three of those back-to-back was a big deal. I think that's one of those things that will go down in the record books, and years from now I'll be able to say, hey, I remember when, and that was a lot of fun for us.”
While the accomplishment of the driver can’t be denied, the attitude of the driver still seems to rub many fans -- and drivers -- the wrong way.
He tries to be humble: “I mean, I'm very blessed from the guy above that gave me the talents that I have, obviously. That's really, really cool. And I do the best with what I've got every weekend. I try to go out there and give it my all. Guys will tell you, the guys that work on my team, the only reason they work on my team is because of the opportunity to work with me.”
And then he seems to not know when to stop when making a point. “But you know, (David) Reutimann was fast, and he was good. And I'm not going to say why I beat him because then he'll fix it, but it has to do with behind the wheel. He wasn't driving the place right, I'm sorry. If he fixes how to drive this place, he'd be right there with me.”
If he had just stopped at “…then he’ll fix it” he would have been fine.
On Friday night, it was his intentional dumping of Brad Keselowski that got him in hot water.
“I thought I had him cleared on the back, and I moved up in front of him, and instead of him doing an Earnhardt crossover move, he just decided that he would run into the back of me and put me in the fence," Busch said. "That’s Brad Keselowski. So I went into the next corner and dumped him.
“He does it to everybody else. Why can’t I do it to him?”
Ever hear of “two wrongs don’t make a right”?
At the end of the day, Busch says love him or hate him for it, the drive to win is what keeps him sharp.
“If I came out of here every week happy for losing, I'm not here for the right reasons," Busch continued. "That's when I need to go away. I'm here to try to win, and if I don't win, I might not entirely be happy unless we struggled through a day and then all of a sudden, boom, we ran second or third, and then it's like, yeah, we got a good day out of here, that was good, a good points day or whatever. That's kind of just the way I am. That's kind of what you guys have seen for the years that I've been here and probably the years to come.”
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