There are a lot of things about Kyle Busch that are “less”. He’s reckless, relentless, and a prick. OK, the last one isn’t a “less”, but I could use less of it. However, there was something totally different I saw in Kyle Busch this weekend, he was careless.
First be clear of the difference. While I’m all on board with the fact that what happened with him and Jr. at Richmond was a “racing deal”, it was also based out of Busch being over aggressive and really not caring about his fellow competitors. There’s no need for us all to go down that road, but we’ve seen a lot of similar instances where he over drives the car and as a result someone else is severely put at a disadvantage. (e.g. Johnny Benson) That’s him though, that’s how he drives. I don’t have to agree with it, but it’s exactly what we’re going to get every week.
What happened with Shrubbie this weekend was totally different in my mind. I didn’t get to see enough of the Truck and Nationwide series races to truly break them down, but I did see every lap of the pre happy hour practice and the entire race Sunday. In both he had major incidents that crippled his cars and both were very unlike Busch. Neither saw him over drive the car, neither saw him make a move that put him in jeopardy, what it seemed like to me was that for a split second he had a lack of focus and in that split second he paid a price.
I’m not 100% convinced that all the travel and additional racing played the only role in his mental breakdowns, but it has to be in the debate. I know that he’s flying top notch private jets, has travel arrangements that rival rock stars, and most of all is young…but he’s not partying all night and getting up to work a desk job. Driving these cars/trucks in these hot conditions take a toll on the body and mind.
The truth of the matter is that the Sprint Cup has to be his number 1 priority. And he is putting together the kind of year that people dream of. He’s the favorite to take the championship at this point and 9 times out of 10 is a factor in the finish of a race. I know everyone is out here preaching that Kyle Busch is the greatest thing since Joey Lagano, but we’ve seen people put together great years and fall back into mediocrity. Do I expect that to happen? No. However, when you have this kind of shot at the biggest honor in your sport, you have to take it and take it seriously. Yes, he may help in getting the owners point championship in the trucks and yes, he may be a factor in the Nationwide cars. However, if he accomplished both, but doesn’t get the Cup do you think it will be worth it?
Maybe he just had an off week. The thing is, he didn’t run out of talent, he didn’t get bad equipment, and no one else forced his errors. He wadded up 2 perfectly good cars in 2 very lackadaisical situations. If I’m Joe Gibbs I wouldn’t put the handcuffs on him yet. However, I would pay attention over the coming weeks and if similar situations start to occur then I would have to look at stepping in.