Kyle Busch seems to enjoy being bad guy

By Lenox Rawlings
Media General News Service
Published: May 21, 2008

CONCORD — Racing is good guys and bad guys and fast cars and faster tempers.

At least it once worked that way, before NASCAR started cruising Madison Avenue for ad dollars and sending raw-edged drivers to polishing school.
Maybe NASCAR tried to do the right thing, but the right thing turned out all wrong. The drivers came off as phony cereal salesmen, and stock-car racing came off as slick commercialism interrupted by juvenile commercials.

Some empty speedway seats, tired TV ratings and cardboard drivers changed everything. NASCAR designated 2008 as a back-to-basics revival of genuinely unique drivers.

There’s a difference between public relations and public reactions, and right now the difference is Kyle Busch. Judging from the raucous noise, some people love him and more people loathe him, and the faceless racing businessmen behind priceless glass windows absolutely adore him.
Retired champion Darrell Waltrip understands the fine lines. He was a bad guy before he was a good guy, despised for surpassing King Richard Petty and embraced as the witty foil for Dale Earnhardt, “The Intimidator.“ In many ways, Waltrip has a linear descendant in Busch.

“He’s exactly what this sport needs,“ Waltrip said yesterday. “We need about 10 of them.“

Kyle Busch is the Sprint Cup points leader. Kyle Busch is the 23-year-old brother of 2004 champion Kurt Busch. Most of all, though, Kyle Busch is the guilt-free character who nearly incited a Richmond riot by planting his candy-coated Toyota in the vulnerable left side of the Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevy.
That was bad news for Junior, who was leading the race and sniffing his first victory in two long years. That was bad news for Busch’s slim chances of becoming the most popular driver. But it was grand news for stock-car racing, the signature moment of the season’s early months.

Humpy Wheeler, the legendary promoter for Lowe’s Motor Speedway, had been campaigning for a villain to stir the pot. His preferred candidate, Tony Stewart, never quite angered enough fans to match Wheeler’s vision. Besides, Stewart climbs fences after wins and has mischievous charm, much like unshaven John Belushi raising his eyebrows as he strolled down the cafeteria line in Animal House.

Busch has a modicum of mischief in his manner. When he became Darlington’s youngest winner last weekend, he greeted the catcalls with a sarcastic bow.

“We just need to keep that bull’s eye on us,“ Busch announced to the crowd.

The Lowe’s audience booed during introductions before the truck race Friday night and before the tire-burnout competition late yesterday afternoon. Busch spun the tires until clouds rose above the start-finish line. He climbed out of the car, heard the jeers and raised his arms in cheerful defiance.

His philosophy: “I just laugh, like O.K. Just because I’m not the most popular guy here, don’t hate on my talent. I guess they do. I don’t care. To me, I’m here to do what I have to do to make M&M’s happy, to make Toyota happy and all the sponsors on the Nationwide and truck side that I work for. As long as I’m winning races for them and getting name recognition for them, then that’s all they care about. For me out in driver intros, that’s not what is going to make or break my weekend. I’ve pretty much been doomed since I got here. I’m pretty much going to be doomed for the next 10 years. That’s why, to me, I just try to go out there and win and send them home unhappy.“

Busch belongs to a distinguished fraternity of villains. Anyone who challenged Petty during his prime risked the label, which was planted on Bobby Allison and Waltrip. The elder Earnhardt evoked strong emotions all around. Some fans ripped him for trampling Terry Labonte at Bristol and banging Bill Elliott at Charlotte. Earnhardt’s fans turned on Jeff Gordon, who had the nerve to win four championships and knock No. 3 out of the sport’s No. 1 slot.
Kurt Busch riled customers during his younger days, but brother Kyle eclipsed him for good when he wrecked Junior, easily the fans’ favorite.

“Right now,“ Waltrip said, “he’s a 23-year-old kid that kind of reminds me of some young drivers I’ve seen come through the sport before. His youth is his advantage. He knows no fear. He doesn’t think that there’s anything he can’t do when he goes out there on the race track.

“Here’s the difference between Kyle Busch and the rest of them: All the other drivers stick that left hand out the window and say, ‘Go by me.‘ Not him. He’s racing every lap of every race. That’s why we love to watch him. We love to watch him because we never know what he’s going to do next. At Atlanta, he passed on the apron. We’re at Vegas and he gets a little bored, so he starts coming down the front straightaway and drives off on the apron, then gets back up on the race track.“

Busch grazed the Darlington wall five times, overcame a loose lug nut and still won for the third time this season.

“I like what he does on the race track,“ Waltrip said. “His off-the-track skills, he could work on a little bit. I told him, ‘You know what? People used to boo me.‘ I used to think it was funny, and he does, too. But then I realized they were really mad. So, it wasn’t bad being the good guy.“
Waltrip traded his black hat for his white hat. Pragmatic Kyle Busch keeps his helmet on, for now.

Lenox Rawlings is a staff writer at Media General’s Winston Salem Journal.