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Making His Presence Felt

By MONTE DUTTON,

AOL

Posted: 2008-05-07 13:00:34

Filed Under: NASCAR

Sports Commentary

Kyle Busch, like most prairie fires and runaway trains, arrived when the world wasn't ready for him.

Kyle Busch

Joe Gibbs M&Ms Toyota team members push their driver Kyle Busch out of the infield after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Life Lock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, July 12, 2008. REUTERS/Robert LeSieur (UNITED STATES)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Samantha Sarcinella and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&Ms Toyota prior to the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota, races Matt Kenseth, driver of the USG Sheetrock Ford during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. Busch went on to win the race. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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Kyle Busch spins his wheels in the soft grass after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Life Lock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, July 12, 2008. REUTERS /Robert LeSieur (UNITED STATES)

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Kyle Busch (18) races Jimmie Johnson for the lead during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Life Lock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, July 12, 2008. REUTERS/Robert LeSieur (UNITED STATES)

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Kyle Busch (L) talks with a crew member prior to the start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Life Lock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, July 12, 2008. REUTERS /Robert LeSieur (UNITED STATES)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota leads the field to the start line during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota drives through turn three during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Toyota celebrates after winning the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

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JOLIET, IL - JULY 12: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&'s Toyota, races Matt Kenseth, driver of the #17 USG Sheetrock Ford during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series LifeLock.com 400 on July 12, 2008 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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For instance, the story at Hendrick Motorsports this year was supposed to be the arrival of Dale Earnhardt Jr., not the departure of Busch. Many knew of Busch's talent, but few anticipated that he would become the central figure of the NASCAR season's first three months.

In the aftermath of Saturday night's race in Richmond, Va., the heat surrounding Kyle Busch is on. Late in the Dan Lowry 400, Busch rammed his No. 18 Toyota into the third turn of Richmond International Raceway to occupy space Earnhardt Jr. coveted for his own No. 88 Chevy. The result? Earnhardt hit the wall. Busch continued on, though the incident cost him first place. Clint Bowyer took advantage of Earnhardt's misfortune and Busch's aggressiveness to win a race from off the radar screen.

Busch, who only turned 23 on the day before the race, has been agitating and marching in the NASCAR streets all year, but it took a crash involving the sport's most popular driver for him to demonstrate that the revolution is on. Coincidentally, his second-place finish made him the Sprint Cup point leader.

For the record, Earnhardt Jr., the victim, wasn't nearly as angry about the incident as his fans. He was frustrated at, once again, having victory snatched away -- it's been exactly two years now -- in the waning moments of a race. Even before the race was run, he'd talked about feeling as if he'd been wearing a bull's-eye.

"Everybody's out to get you," Junior had said, in specific reference to the Talladega race a week earlier. "Everybody's out to beat you."

Latest NASCAR Photos

BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowes / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, heads to pit road with a front-right locked tire during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Brian Vickers, driver of the #83 Red Bull Toyota, makes a pit stop during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Jimmie Johnson driver of the #48 Lowes /Kobalt Tools Chevrolet makes a pit stop during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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Carl Edwards (99) drives along the front stretch during the NASCAR 3M Performance 400 auto race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Brian Vickers, driver of the #83 Red Bull Toyota, races with the Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's / Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Lowe's/Kobalt Tools Chevrolet, leads Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet, Brian Vickers, driver of the #83 Red Bull Toyota, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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Jeff Gordon's crew works on his car during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' 3M Performance 400 auto race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. Gordon's right-front tire blew out and sent the car into the wall. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Jeff Gordon talks to the media next to his trailer as his crew works on his car during the NASCAR 3M Performance 400 auto race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. Gordon's right-front tire blew and sent the car into the wall on lap 97. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Kyle Busch drives along the front stretch during the NASCAR 3M Performance 400 auto race at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

BROOKLYN, MI - AUGUST 17: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 3M Performance 400 at Michigan International Speedway on August 17, 2008 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)

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Busch's attitude, meanwhile, was sympathetic but unapologetic. Busch said he was sorry it had happened but not sorry that he had raced Earnhardt aggressively for the win. He said he didn't mean to wreck him. If he had cut a break to Earnhardt, or given undue deference to his popularity, Busch said he would've been less than a racer.

"Everybody probably is racing around the track, scared to death of wrecking Dale Earnhardt Jr., so why wouldn't I be any different? You know, that was just a product of good, hard racing," he concluded.

It's really no wonder that the person who has most championed Kyle Busch's cause is an ex-driver who mimicked Busch's climb more than three decades earlier.

Like Busch, Darrell Waltrip, now Fox's prime analyst of NASCAR coverage, had been a brash young driver who never backed away from confronting established stars, thus earning the enmity of Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and other giants of the time. All season, Waltrip has praised Busch and expressed admiration for his skill and style.

When Busch poked fun at the Earnhardt fans who booed him -- "I don't know why they were telling me I was number one: I was in second place," he quipped -- it was exactly what Waltrip might have said under similar circumstances in, say, 1977.

Like Waltrip, Busch is better regarded in the media than in the grandstands, simply because he's good copy. In Waltrip's case, time remedied his early lack of popularity. Fans accepted him as they came to know him. By Waltrip's retirement in 2000, he had become an elder statesman.

It will be interesting to see how Busch progresses from here.

RUMINATIONS ON THE RACES

-- With apologies to Bill Maher, New Rule: Three boring hours do not a boring race make. After 382 laps of Denny Hamlin domination, it was "guys gone wild" once Hamlin's right-front tire began leaking air.

-- This is the best part of the season. Talladega to Richmond to Darlington to The Two Weeks of Charlotte. All great tracks. All vastly different. Excitement hangs in the air.

-- The last time Darlington was repaved, the short-term result was higher speeds and crashes. Expect more of the same Saturday night.

-- Darlington is the sport's sternest test. Period. The racing groove is no more than a sidewalk when compared to most other tracks. If Jeff Gordon doesn't do well there, it's officially time to be concerned about his chances of making the Chase.

-- It's that time already for Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and Casey Mears.

Photo Gallery

Rusty Jarrett, Getty Images for NASCAR

Relive
The Season

1 of 10

Dan Lowry 400: Make that a 72-race winless drought for Dale Earnhardt Jr. After Junior spins out in the final laps, it's Clint Bowyer, pictured, who surges to the lead and wins the Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond.

2008-05-05 12:47:21