Kyle Busch: I Don’t Have Any Fans
It seems that David Caravielo over at NASCAR.com has a different view of Kyle Busch than the one Dale Earnhardt Jr has.
“I don’t have any fans. Just wait, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be here in a while.” ~ Kyle Busch
After all – it was Junior who said “The reaction after the spin with Kyle was pretty impressive,” after the 2 tangled at Richmond putting Busch in the wall.
However, Caravielo spent a day with Kyle Busch in New York this week as part of the NASCAR Chase media tour – and came away with an interesting side of Kyle Busch.
Caravielo had a different view of Busch than that held by most members of Junior Nation .
Still, Caravielo saw the dark side of Kyle Busch when one fan looking for an autograph almost ordered the driver to “Take care of your fans.” Kyle simply answered: “I don’t have any fans. Just wait, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be here in a while.”
The article is worth reading even if you are a Kyle Busch fan. Catch it at NASCAR.com
Sound Off: New Hampshire
Have Your Say
Who has the edge at New Hampshire to kick off the Chase?
With championship points reset NASCAR heads to New Hampshire for the Sylvania 300 in the first of ten races. Points are on the line – Kyle Busch could find himself mid-pack at the blink of an eye. Tony Stewart or Dale Earnhardt Jr or Matt Kenseth – or any one of the 12 Chase drivers — could come away scrapping for the points lead.
When asked about his goal for the Chase Dale Earnhardt Jr summed it up nicely: “Win as many races as I can, and win the championship. I’d love to win the championship walking away. You know, go into Homestead with it clinched already.”
In 2004 Kurt Busch won this race, paving the way to the Championship he would win by the time Homestead was over.
Jimmie Johnson suddenly shows momentum heading into the Chase. “I’m trying to show up scared, worried about 11 other guys, and worry about doing my part,” 2 time champion Jimmie Johnson said. “And the thing is I have confidence in what my abilities are and what my team is capable of and the packages we have put together in the last five or six months. Short track, big track, all of it.”
Besides all the Chase drama, Joey Logano will make his Cup debut Sunday at New Hampshire — as a warm up to next season when he will replace Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
So who do you think has the edge – for the race and the championship?
Quick Race Facts
The Race: Sylvania 300
The Place: New Hampshire Motor Speedway
The Date: Sunday, Sept. 14
The Time: 2 p.m. (ET)
The Track: 1.058-mile oval
The Distance: 317.4 miles300 laps
TV: ABC, pre-race @ 1 p.m. (ET)
Radio: PRN, SIRIUS Satellite
2007 Winner: Clint Bowyer
2007 Polesitter: Clint Bowyer
Carl Edwards Billboard
Carl Edwards Texas Billboard
Photo courtesy Kim Ramon
Here’s the latest Texas Motor Speedway billboard promoting the Dickies 500 in November.
Dale Earnhardt Jr Wrecks Kyle Busch
Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Kyle Busch, Media, NASCAR Charities, NASCAR Owners, Silly Season, Tony Stewart
Dale Jr Swears it was an Accident
Jimmie Johnson might have won the Chevy Rock and Roll 400 Sunday, but it was once again Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kyle Busch grabbing headlines amid controversy.
“If I wanted to do it, I would do it really, really good.” ~ Dale Jr on the Kyle Busch crash
Photo courtesy Hendrick Motorsports
It looked like the same wreck the 2 drivers were involved in the last time they came to Richmond – but this time it was Kyle Busch who hit the wall, not Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Busch and Earnhardt were locked in a heated battle for the lead midway through the race when the 2 cars touched sending Kyle’s Toyota into the wall.
Junior insisted the crash was accidental — but he seemed to leave plenty of room to read between the lines in his comments.
When asked if he had intentionally put Busch into the wall, Dale Earnhardt Jr said “I really ain’t never wrecked anybody on purpose. But if I wanted to do it, I would do it really, really good.”
“If I wreck somebody, I ain’t going to leave him in good enough shape to come back and get me in the same race, so that wasn’t really my intentions.”
Kyle Busch felt that he knew exactly what happened. “Junior got in there a little too hot, a little close to me , and smoked the tires,” said Busch, who left the Richmond with the points lead.
One reporter asked Busch if he thought the wreck was payback from the spring race at Richmond.
“Was that revenge? Who knows?” Busch replied flatly.
Dale Earnhardt Jr finished the race 4th — while Busch was credited with a 15th place finish.
Do you think it was revenge?
Hanna Threatens Nascar
Filed under: NASCAR, NASCAR Charities, NASCAR Owners, Silly Season
Tropical Storm Hanna postpones Sprint Cup race until Sunday.
NASCAR has postponed all activities at Richmond until Sunday. The Cup race will run Sunday at 1 pm, followed by the Nationwide race.
Tropical Storm Hanna is drawing a bead on the Carolinas and Virginia, and threatening to throw gasoline on the smoldering rivalry between Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.
Sprint Cup qualifying — which was set to get underway Friday at 6:10 pm — was rained out.
The field will line up by owner’s points according to the NASCAR rulebook.
That will put Kyle Busch on the pole — and Carl Ewdwards on the outside of the front row. Oh, and by the way, that will also put Dale Earnhardt Jr starting on the outside of the 2nd row.
Let’s see, who did Kyle wreck the last time NASCAR raced at Richmond? Oh yeah, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Talk about a wreck waiting to happen when the green flag flies and the field storms into turn one.
I guess Kyke had better be fast since the rain didn’t hold off.
Hanna is currently dumping rain across the southeast,
Dale Earnhardt Jr and Kid Rock
Dale Jr and Kid Rock Salute American Soldiers
First Jobs For Nine NASCAR Drivers
Before they were NASCAR racers
Some race car drivers have never had to work a day in their lives. Racing is all they have ever known, and they couldn’t get a real job to support themselves if they had to.
Others aren’t so lucky, and have to work hard to earn their way into the sport.
Tony Stewart worked at a machine shop that was housed in a barn in Rush County, Indiana. He spent his days in front of a drill press fabricating pieces of tubing. Stewart gave his boss two weeks notice and quit the $5 an hour job shortly after racing in the Copper Classic in Phoenix, Arizona. His prize money from the race was $3,500 – more than 4 months pay at the machine shop. That’s when Smoke figured out he might be able to make a living holding on to a steering wheel.
Stewart also worked as a tow truck driver in Indianapolis while he was making a name for himself as an Indiana sprint car driver. The job would often take him through Speedway, Indiana – right past Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr worked as an oil change tech in the shop at the Chevy dealership in Newton, North Carolina. He once claimed to be “the fastest oil change guy in the dealership”. Junior has said that if he wasn’t racing he would probably still be working there. Dale Jr worked on race cars at night, building his own race cars and hauling them to Carolina short tracks before convincing his father he was ready to move up to the Busch series in a DEI car.
Carl Edwards worked as a substitute teacher is his hometown of Columbia, Missouri. Not surprising when you consider his mom was once president of the local PTA.
Clint Bowyer worked as a body shop mechanic at John North Ford in Emporia Kansas making $10 an hour — while racing his own car at the local short tracks. Shortly after running second – and leading 47 laps — in an ARCA race at Nashville Clint was hard at work in the body shop when the phone rang. It was Richard Childress on the line asking Bowyer to come to North Carolina and drive his Busch car. Trouble was – Bowyer didn’t believe it was really Childress on the line. He thought it was his buddies playing a joke on him. Eventually Childress was able to convince Bowyer that he was for real, and Bowyer was on his way.
Matt Kenseth grew up working for his dad. Kenseth’s father is a serial entrepreneur from the small town of Madison, Wisconsin. Roy Kenseth at various times owned a movie theater, a video rental store and a furniture store. Matt worked with his dad in the family business doing jobs like selling movie tickets and delivering furniture. When Matt was around 13 Roy decided to go stock car racing at the local short tracks in Wisconsin – and made a deal with Matt. Roy would do the driving, and Matt would help prepare the car. Then, when Matt turned 16 he would take over the driving duties. Looks like the plan worked out.
Kurt Busch worked for the public works department at the city of Las Vegas. His job was to install much needed water lines in the fast growing desert city. At the same time Busch was enrolled in the University of Arizona hoping to get a degree in microbiology or pharmacy.
Darrell Waltrip and Buddy Baker – two former Daytona 500 champions currently working as NASCAR broadcasters – both earned their living as car salesmen before deciding to drive them instead. No wonder they talk so much.
Dale Earnhardt, the 7 time NASCAR champion, once worked at Great Dane in Charlotte. There Earnhardt repaired trailers for 18 wheelers – welding broken frames, installing new brakes, and keeping the trailers rolling.
Make no mistake, racing is hard work – but sometimes the work to get to the driver’s seat is the hardest work of all.
What kind of job do you think best prepares a driver for a career in racing?