All eyes are on NASCAR’s bad boy
‘Rowdy’ Busch successful on track, never boring
Great stories always involve a battle between the forces of nature: good versus evil, heroes and villains.
Kyle Busch isn’t called “Rowdy” because he parties till dawn. He rocks and rolls to a different universe, often contentious and unfiltered. If that makes him evil, so be it. But the bottom line is he is good for a sport in which participants have become a bit homogenized over the years.
So consider it a good thing that Busch won at Texas on Sunday, his 44th NASCAR Cup victory overall.
It sets up a nice narrative for the playoffs this fall when he tangles with longtime rival Kevin Harvick, another prickly pear, among others.
Bring it, boys.
It had been a bittersweet season for Busch after finishing second in three of the previous four races with veteran crew chief Adam Stevens. The tempestuous kind, Busch had an excellent filter of perspective from owner Joe Gibbs.
“Those are long weeks,” Gibbs said in Texas. “He’s upset afterward. During the week, we have our competition meeting. ... Kyle’s got a lot of confidence in Adam and our team, but it is frustrating when you feel like — second sometimes, you know, it’s so hard.
“Then when you have several of those, you just kind of feel like it builds up.”
It can, and it did.
The frustration spilled over to Twitter a few weeks ago after Busch was criticized for apparently blowing off the Fox Sports crew after finishing third. In reality, the Fox team missed its window of opportunity to interview Busch, and it wasn’t incumbent on him to stick around and wait.
It turned into a contentious sparring session in cyberspace.
“Enjoy @KyleBusch engaging the haters along with his fans on twitter. Regardless of your opinion on him, he is great for @NASCAR,” tweeted Dale Earnhardt Jr. “Never boring. Makes my new job easier.”
It makes everyone’s job easier in NASCAR — except the drivers trying to keep up. Busch already has one Cup title from 2015 and definitely is in the mix for another.
He goes to Bristol this week as the points leader — and with a rowdy round of momentum.
“As much as I love to win and hate to lose, it obviously feels a heck of a lot better when you can be ... talking about a win rather than a second or third, something like that, like we have been the past six weeks,” Busch said Sunday.
No worries anymore. See you in the playoffs, and bring your contentious party hat.
That said, it was pretty cool for a number of Ford team NASCAR drivers to play flag football at the Dallas Cowboys’ indoor practice facility.
The pickup crew included Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, Brad Keselowski, Trevor Bayne, Aric Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Paul Menard, Joey Logano, Matt DiBenedetto, Michael McDowell, David Ragan and Kurt Busch.
“Ford and the Cowboys made that happen,” Blaney said. “Played flag football. I never played flag football as a kid. ...
“It’s good that there were 11 players on each side — it’s a big field. That’s a lot of ground to cover. We were huffing and puffing. It was a good time. Nobody got hurt. Clint didn’t throw up.”
Consider that a win, kids.
Johnson was involved in a multicar crash on Lap 176 at Texas and finished 35th. He dropped to 21st in the standings.
“Yeah, by the time I saw what went on (Denny Hamlin) was backward and smoking the tires coming up the track,” Johnson said. “I knew where his arc was taking him and I knew that I was in trouble in the outside lane and going to get into him some.
“And then the crash just continued from there. … We will get back to our winning ways soon.”
Truth, or wishful thinking?
Suarez was involved in a multicar wreck last weekend and posted a video after the race showing his left hand wrapped in a splint. He was scheduled to have it looked at more closely by a doctor this week.
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