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There are two questions I'm most frequently asked when people find out I cover auto racing for a living.
The first is, what do drivers do when nature calls during a race?
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| Kyle Busch isn't concerned about ruffling feathers, just winning. (AP) |
The second is, who gets booed the loudest in pre-race driver introductions?
If he didn't have that one sewed up before last Saturday night Richmond, the hands-down winner there now is Kyle Busch.
The younger Busch pretty much took over the most booed lead from his brother, Kurt, about a year ago. And Shrub's aggressive driving style and his being never at a loss for words add up to Kyle taking over the role as NASCAR's chief villain among most fans today.
After his controversial tangle with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Richmond, Busch was at his sarcastic best.
"The fans were going crazy, and you see it, but you don't pay attention to it," Busch said. "I don't know why they were telling me I was No. 1, I was in second place. Clint Bowyer got the lead from me -- they were all confused.
"I guess too many old Budweisers," he finished, referring to Junior's former long-time sponsor.
The Saturday night incident came on the heels of Friday night's Nationwide Series tangle with Steven Wallace, son of former Cup champion Rusty.
After the two made contact on the track in the closing laps, things spilled over to pit road. Busch went over to Wallace's car, and when he stuck his head in the side window, he was grabbed by the helmet, igniting more hard feelings and a war of words.
"I basically told him that you mess with the bull, you're going to get the horns, then he wanted to grab my helmet, which is pretty childish again," said Busch, who added he would "wreck as many cars as necessary to win a race."
His tirade continued as he took aim at the entire Wallace family.
"We'll see what happens here in the future, and if he wants to play those games, he's going to get hurt," Busch said.
When asked if he would try to discuss things further with him, Busch said: "That's Rusty Wallace's kid, so I'm not sure you're going to be able to talk to him much and get through his head. But we'll see. Probably I won't."
So in one weekend Busch attacked two of the most famous names in NASCAR: Earnhardt and Wallace.
Not that it matters to him.
The only thing Kyle Busch does care about is winning, and it's something he has done on a regular basis this year, with seven victories in NASCAR's top three divisions.
Busch isn't worried about ruffling feathers or being politically correct. In some ways he's a throwback to some of the no-holds-barred drivers who were part of NASCAR's glorious past. Guys like Curtis Turner, Cale Yarborough and even Dale Earnhardt Sr. seem to be a big part of Busch's DNA.
Having this bad boy reputation and villain role doesn't seem to bother him much at all, and he continued to not back down over his tangle with Earnhardt.
"It's nothing new to me anyway," Busch said of the incessant jeers he has received from Junior Nation followers. "I'm used to it. I pretty much told them, 'Grow up, that's racing.' We're racing hard, and I feel like there's a lot more worse cases in this world than someone getting spun out in a race."
While NASCAR surely doesn't condone aggressive driving or dangerous on-track altercations, deep down the sanctioning body has to be pleased with this evolving Busch vs. the world rivalry.
A Busch-Earnhardt Jr. feud would especially generate lots of attention and press, although Junior has downplayed the whole thing.
But in a sport that was founded on bad blood and great rivalries, which in all honesty have been missing for a while, a little controversy like what happened in Richmond isn't a bad thing at all.
I would imagine it helped sell a few more seats in Darlington this weekend, and the folks at Lowe's Motor Speedway, always happy to stir up a little dirt in the name of a good promotion, will do all they can to use the situation to put a few more butts in their bleachers later this month.
You can bet there will be more than a few fans hoping the Nos. 18 and 88 cars find each other on track this Saturday night in Darlington.
Probably a few track promoters, television executives and NASCAR P.R. people as well.