Woody: Kyle Pulled A Kyle After Texas Race
Kurt Busch blew past brother Kyle after the younger Busch ran out of fuel Sunday. Kyle Busch then blew past the media. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
When Kyle Busch narrowly missed making the make the Chase for the Championship at Richmond back in September I though he showed a lot of class with the way he handed his defeat and disappointment in the harsh glare of the TV lights.
That low point of his season might have been the high point of his career in terms of his image.
As I wrote at the time, maybe the petulant, guitar-smashing Bratboy of NASCAR had finally grown up.
Last Sunday at Texas Kyle regressed.
After running out of gas with two laps to go he climbed from his car and sulked away. He dodged the media, leaving new crew chief Dave Rogers to handle the unpleasant duties.
Busch’s loss was a significant story because he had been on the cusp of history.
He had won the Friday truck race and the Saturday Nationwide race and no driver had ever swept all three races in all three series in the same weekend.
A Busch Cup victory would have been a major story. The fact that he came so close – he had dominated the race by leading 232 laps – was a big story.
What if Jimmie Johnson should lose the championship week after next at Homestead-Miami, climb from car, and disappear without a word to anyone?
Sure, Busch was disappointed. Understandably. Who wouldn’t be? But he still had an obligation to step up and discuss the situation.
Busch didn’t duck and run after this truck and Nationwide victories. He hammed it up with his trademark exaggerated stage bows and fingers thrust aloft to signal his number of wins.
Busch is like a lot of today’s sports stars and celebrities: they love the attention when it’s convenient but want to be left alone when it’s not. They want to be able to turn it on and off like a water spigot, according to their mood and whim.
One of the qualities that made Richard Petty so endearing was his grace in defeat. (As Richard says, he lost a whole lot more races than he won.). Yet even when he suffered a tough loss Petty was the same as when he won. He was accessible to the media – which he realized was his conduct to the fans – and was never critical of his team or anyone around him.
Petty always stood as tall in defeat as in victory.
You can tell more about a person by how they handle losing than by how they handle wining. It’s easy to be pleasant and cooperative when things are going well. It’s not so easy when things turn sour.
Petty won with class and lost with dignity. He understood his responsibilities to the sport and the fans. He knew that the media had a job to do, and that the fans were interested in what he had to say, win or lose.
Kyle needs to take some cues from the King.
– Larry Woody can be reached at lwoody@racintoday.com
24 Comments
Contrast Kyle’s behavior with Jimmie Johnson’s. Anyone watching his post-race press conference could easily see how much he didn’t want to be there, and yet there he was, patiently answering all the media’s questions.
Last weekend Kurt Busch said that one Cup win was the equivalent of five Nationwide wins. I wonder how many Nationwide champions it takes to equal one Cup champion? When it comes to Kyle, he’s got a long way to go.
RP was a poker player at the track. At times, he would lay in wait, then charge to the front, or at times, he would embarrass the competition, still other times, he would simply be lucky (which comes when you are in a position to win but not in front, such as the 43 at Daytona 1979, or the 20 at New Hampshire and the 00 at Charlotte 2009, etc.) If you only saw the 43 on the track from 1985-1994, you missed a great career.
KB is a high card draw. When the green falls, you will see what he has and if it is there, he will show you. If not, he will drive the wheels off until they can get it adjusted. Regardless, every lap is wreckers or checkers.
RP was and will always be a class act finishing first like he did 200 times or a DNQ such as Richmond and all the spots in between for all those years.
Just the fact that some in the media choose to compare Kyle to Richard is not validation that he actually shares any similarities with the King. Combining his truck race finishes, with his Nationwide Race finishes and his cup race finishes, and he still won’t match the performance RP had on the track in his early years.
And the last argument that frequently is tossed about is the one that discusses how much better the racers are today than they were some 40 years ago. Make no mistake, Kyle Busch is an incredible talent. But sometimes the hype goes well beyond reality. The typical winner in 1970, Foyt, (2) Allisons, Pearson, (2) Yarboroughs, Issacs, Baker, Hamilton, Glotzbach and a guy named Petty. Maybe the talent was not as deep but if through Kyle’s eyes we believe there are only winners and losers, why does it matter?
THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE TO SAY ANY THING AFTER THE RACE IS THE TOP 5, SO KLYE DENT HAVE HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING IF HE DENT WANT TO ,
ALL U TALK ABOUT IS THE WAY HE CRYS, BUT WITH ALL YOUR COMMENTS ALL OF YOU DO MORE CRYING THEN HE DOSE, SO GIVE IT A BRACK AND Larry Woody ALL HE IS DOING,ANY OTHER ARE DOING TO GET YOU TO READ WHAT THEY WRITE , THATS ALL AND MOST OF THE TIME IT IS ALL BULL S— ANY WAY , THANK YOU DUN DEE
THE ONLY ONES THAT HAVE TO SAY ANY THING AFTER THE RACE IS THE TOP 5, SO KLYE DENT HAVE HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING IF HE DENT WANT TO ,
ALL U TALK ABOUT IS THE WAY HE CRYS, BUT WITH ALL YOUR COMMENTS ALL OF YOU DO MORE CRYING THEN HE DOSE, SO GIVE IT A BRACK AND Larry Woody ALL HE ANY OTHER ARE DOING TO GET YOU TO READ WHAT THEY WRITE , THATS ALL AND MOST OF THE TIME IT IS ALL BULL S— ANY WAY , THANK YOU DUN DEE
I thought he was growing up but a child is a child.
Seems to me every week guys that don’t finish in the top 3 get interviewed. Guys that wreck, guys that run out of gas, guys that blow engines, guys coming out of the care center…. they all get interviewed.
Anyone who doesn’t see that must not watch many races.
For the last time… Kyle is not special. He should be expected to put up with the same rules, obligations, and bs that the other 43 drivers put up with. When he doesn’t he should be called out by the media, fans and other drivers.
Baby.
so what…he was upset he didn’t win…I love to see some reaction when they don’t finish first, instead of the same ole “we had a good race car, the pit guys were awesome, we just didn’t make the right call”……how many times do we have to listen to a vanilla interview .
Kyle is a top notch race car driver in the top NASCAR series that wants to win each week and is unhappy with anyother finish. I do admire that.
To all of you who use the “11th place finish does not merit an interview” arguement, that’s baseless. The failed attempt at the weekend 3-peat, especially the way it happened, was the story. Last week at Talledega, Ryan Newman finished 39th and he was interviewed. It’s not the finish but the story behind the finish.
Kyle can obviously drive a racecar, but he hasn’t developed any mental fortitude. You hit it right, he’s all smiles when things are going his way and miserable when they didn’t. Well, life is like that and how a person handles adversity shows their quality. I don’t respect KyBusch at all and this is a great part of the reason why.
To compare Kyle, To the King is a stretch. The Petty’s have helped build the sport through years of hard work, dedication and integrity. Mr.Busch although a great driver could use a few lessons from the King on handling success and failure.
Thank you for keeping on Kyle. He is the TRASH of NASCAR. I would love to see someone kick his little tush across the the track…he baths himself in glory when he wins, then pouts like a 2 year old when he doesn’t….what a crock……..
It is absolutely amazing how you people in the media continue to beat the same dead horse. Dude give it a rest. Find a different horse to beat for a while. I could care less what Kyle did after the race. He didn’t even finish in the top 5. He is not in the chase. Leave the guy alone.
Kyle Busch can driove the wheels off a race car, but as a hunman being, Kyle would not even qualify to polish Richard Petty’s belt buckle. There are drivers with ten foot egos, and there are drivers that display nothing but class. The only comparison between Kyle Busch and Richard Petty is, they both show up at the race track every Sunday.
Larry to compare Kyle to Richard Oh My. Just kidding. Petty was “our sport”, Busch is what our sports become. What more can be said?
Dave,
That’s a good one you hit the nail on the head. You wait Kyle will show every one what he can do. They do need to go pick on some one else. He’s not jimmy johnson because I wouldn’t want him to like him so boring and that’s a fact.
Larry,
I think you need to quit picking on Kyle Busch. He wasn’t one of the first 3 drivers he was 11th. What’s a wrong with you people. He is not any other driver he Kyle Busch and always will be. This makes me so angry I think some should be done about this. There are to many talking and putting down a young man that has done more than any of you.
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Comment not posted. Did you pull a Kyle. ha
Dave:
We get so much spam and glom-on advertising, we have to manually approve all posts. Sometime we step away from the site to write, do interviews, pee, and it takes longer to go through the comments and get the legit ones posted.
Jim
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Kyle is not JJ or Richard Petty. He finished in 11th place. Pls tell me how many 11th placers talk to the media post race. As for Kyle’s way of handling things that’s just how it is. In my house Kyle won whether he crossed the line 1st or 11th. Go pick on somebody else.
Dave (and others who feel Kyle had no “obligation” to talk to the media at Texas since he didn’t win) If Jimmie Johnson fails to win the Cup championship next week at Homestead, do you believe that’s also an insignificant story?
Of course not. The result of Johnson’s historical quest will be a major story whether he succeeds or not. If he fails, you can be sure that, despite his disappointment, he’ll hang around for the press conference.
Kyle likewise last Sunday was attempting to make history; otherwise, you’re right: his loss wouldn’t have been news-worthy and nobody could care less if he chose to slink away and sulk.
LW