October 12, 2009
By Matthew Pizzolato
Matthew Pizzolato
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The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Kyle Busch has experienced both sides of the equation, but then, who hasn't? After failing to qualify for the Chase this season, he has pinned all his hopes on winning the Nationwide Championship.
As of last weekend's race at Auto Club Speedway, Busch enjoyed a comfortable 155 point lead over second place Carl Edwards in the Nationwide standings. He's had a phenomenal season in Nationwide competition so far this year, six wins and ten second place finishes. Instead of being content with such a successful season as most drivers would, Busch is not.
The great Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi once said, "Winning isn't everything, it’s the only thing."
Apparently, Kyle Busch subscribes to that philosophy. However, the statement doesn't necessarily apply to racing. The key to winning championships in any form of racing is consistency, and Busch has certainly been consistent in the Nationwide Series this year, unlike his performance in Cup.
Yet, is Busch grateful that he's been so successful in Nationwide this year? Not quite. Instead, he chooses to complain about not winning enough, despite the fact that it is the ten second place finishes that are the key to his 200 plus point lead. Winning isn't everything in racing, but consistency is.
"It is frustrating," Busch was quoted as saying in an article on nascar.com after last weekend's second place finish. "We had a great race car. We were good in the points. I've only done that about 12 times this year, so it ain't the first time and it certainly ain't going to be the last time. We're looking for wins. I'd love to break that [single-season] win record, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen this year."
Instead of breaking the single season win record, Busch is well on his way to setting a record for the most second place finishes in a season, which he tied with his tenth second place finish last week at Kansas. The record had been set in 1983 by Jack Ingram.
There is no question that Kyle Busch is an incredibly talented race car driver. However, his all or nothing attitude has cost him dearly in Cup competition. He had four wins before the Chase started, but still wasn't able to qualify for NASCAR's post season, while several of the drivers who did make they Chase haven't won a race at all this year.
Instead of trying to win every single race, he should focus on posting consistent top five, or at least top ten finishes. But, if he did that, he wouldn't be the Kyle Busch that many fans have come to dislike.
No one likes a sore loser, and that is what Busch has become. In today's society, most children are taught from an early age to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. Kyle Busch is never humble and is only gracious in victory.
His post race interviews and antics when he fails to win irritate many people, not to mention his behavior when he does win, such as his guitar bashing incident a few months at Nashville.
Apparently, he believes that finishing second just means he is the first loser, and that attitude will cost him in the long run. Yet, until he changes his mentality, Kyle Busch will always have a leg up on the competition as NASCAR's official "First Loser."
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