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 Kyle Busch is not always an easy champion to admire. His driving
talent is compelling and he often displays a winning personality. So
why all the haters?
The defending Sprint Cup champion has won the last four NASCAR races
he has entered, which is the stuff of champions.
With his Sprint Cup victory on Saturday night in Texas, Busch now
has seven victories in the 32 races since returning from his
injuries suffered at the beginning of the 2015 season and is a solid
favorite to become the first back-to-back champion since Jimmie
Johnson won five straight under the old Chase format.
With the help of wife Samantha, Busch even became a brief Internet
sensation with a video that went viral after a post-race encounter
with a fan while waiting in traffic. It's been mostly bouquets and
trophies -- for two weeks at least -- following a Camping World
Truck Series win in Martinsville, Busch's first Cup win on the
Virginia half-mile and then another sweep in Texas, where he won the
Xfinity Series preliminary.
 But one can't help but think Busch likes to motivate himself by
putting a chip on his shoulder instead of embracing success. He
still continues to talk about the haters. Jimmie Johnson has those
in spades, to take one example, but you don't hear him talk about
them or goading them after victories.
The defending champ is a changed man since coming back from serious
foot and leg injuries last year. But three race weekends ago he did
some backsliding. He lost an Xfinity Series race on the last lap in
Fontana, Calif., then accused NASCAR of fixing the outcome when
officials elected to not throw a last lap caution flag that would
have handed Busch the victory -- for bringing out the caution.
Busch then skipped the obligatory post-race media conference --
where he might have explained why NASCAR should have thrown a
caution for his blown tire given that Busch raced his car from Turn
1, where the tire blew up, to the finish and almost won?
The debate about Busch has been ongoing. He was rightfully lauded
for the guts and maturity he showed during his recovery from the
injuries suffered at the Daytona International Speedway. And then he
won the championship against some long odds. He had something to
prove and did it.
Yet, after his recent victories Busch continued to talk about
sending a message to "the haters," embracing the role of villain --
and once again placing a chip on his shoulder. Going forward, the
biggest chip is Busch's penchant for racing in the understudy series
against lesser talent and compiling other-worldly victory totals. At
what point does beating up on less experienced talent become more
than a nuisance?
Not only did Busch get fined for skipping the media conference and
for dissing the sanctioning body in Fontana, there were also calls
for NASCAR to find a way to limit veterans like Busch from making a
mockery of the Xfinity Series. Busch's response has been to sweep
two straight weekends, including the understudy preliminary races.
His Xfinity victory in Texas gave him four in the season's first
five races.
The debate about veterans racing against the up-and-comers in
NASCAR's other traveling series has raged for over three decades. In
the 1980s and 1990s, before the big TV money kicked in, it was
understandable for the stars of the Sprint Cup to race for
additional money on Saturdays, including purses and sponsorship
deals.
But fans of the Late Model competitors who were trying to break into
superspeedway racing and the big leagues never liked it. Plus, those
sponsor deals going to the relatively well off Cup drivers might
have ended up elsewhere. Did the presence of Cup veterans help boost
ticket sales for preliminary races or hurt them? That, too, was
always a matter of debate.
It's nothing new for a driver to believe he has something to prove
to the world, to race and carry himself with defiance, to bring out
the boo birds and to be easily provoked by losing. That pretty much
describes the late Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was the straw that
stirred the drink in NASCAR during its tremendous growth in the
1990s.
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But no one ever accused Earnhardt Sr., who despised losing, of being
peevish after a loss. He may have taken exception to NASCAR
decisions -- especially on rules -- but never disputed the
organization's integrity. Earnhardt Sr. also raced in the
preliminary races but primarily at Daytona. He didn't try to make a
career of it. Part of his charm as "The Intimidator," if one could
describe it that way, was ignoring the boo birds instead of engaging
them -- as Busch does regularly in social media.
So is Busch a racer who only fashions himself as the guy in the
black hat while being more trollish than tough? A guy who truly
needs to believe the world is against him in order to motivate
himself? Does he really believe that by accusing NACAR of fixing
races, officials will have to be careful and "more fair" to him in
the future?
Until his injuries, Busch certainly seemed more comfortable with a
bad boy image, which resulted from angry outbursts such as single
digit salutes to officials and peevish behavior when he didn't win
and the sarcastic bows when he did.
Prior to the Texas race, Busch was asked about going from villain to
hero following his injuries in Daytona.
"Last year, when I came back, I was booed a little bit, but there
was certainly some cheers around being able to get back in the race
car, get back to the race track -- things like that," he said. "But
then I started winning again and it kind of went away. It seemed
like not only did I go back to my winning ways, but it seemed like
the fans kind of went back to their old ways of how they treated me.
But I feel like through the championship and things like that
obviously I've grown a little bit, but obviously, too, I think my
reputation's kind of grown a little bit as well and I think it's
just -- it's a never-ending evolution of people in the sport."
But which way will Busch evolve?
Busch's goal is to reach 200 combined victories in NASCAR's three
touring series -- a sort of tribute to Richard Petty's 200 career
Sprint Cup wins mixed with a message about Busch's own ability --
albeit against weaker competition. Currently, he has 45 victories in
the Trucks, 80 in Xfinity and 36 in the Sprint Cup for a total of
161.
Is this success a sign of greatness for Busch, who will race in the
Xfinity Series again this week in Bristol, or something else? It
would not be a surprise if NASCAR sometime after the end of the 2016
season makes a move to limit the appearances of Cup drivers in the
support series. It's now clear those regulars are getting beat in a
way that ruins the racing in the series already having trouble
selling tickets and gaining viewership. Future star Erik Jones, also
a Joe Gibbs Racing driver, is one of many who might be better
showcased if he didn't have to try to beat Busch every weekend.
Busch is not alone in running the support series. Kevin Harvick has
been a regular among others. Busch just runs them more often than
any other driver and is dedicated to continuing in order to reach
his goal of 200 race victories. There are also the usual
explanations that winning on Saturday helps win on Sunday. But
somehow it was never necessary for previous Sprint Cup champions
such as Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon.
One suspects that if NASCAR changes the rule limiting race
appearances by Cup drivers in Xfinity, Busch will see it as "the
Kyle Busch rule" and just add another chip to his shoulder.
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