Kyle Busch draws more heat and hate with his every win in NASCAR's two lesser series. He has turned the Nationwide, and Camping World Truck, series into his personal showcases. NASCAR's most hated is not gaining any fans from all (73) of his minor league wins. Somehow, Busch thinks he can get to Richard Petty's 200 win level by counting his wins from all three of the NASCAR touring series.
Even though a lot of Petty's wins were against small fields, and were less than 100 miles long, they were all at NASCAR's top level at the time.... Grand National, or Winston Cup, series. Busch trying to count his NWS and CWTS victories towards Petty's record is the same as Alex Rodriguez going down to Double A baseball, and claiming all the homers he would hit there as counting towards his lifetime total in his march to unseat Barry Bonds as the MLB home run leader.
Sure winning 200 races, across the board, would be a grand achievement, but no one will consider it on par with Petty's 200 Cup wins. So why terrorize the smaller series? Should Busch just stop driving the two lower tiers? Leave the NW wins to the other dozen or so Cup drivers who invade that series every week?
Busch is viewed by many as a bully who preys on lesser teams in the lower series. The career leader in NWS wins, Mark Martin, was a Cup star when he won all those NW (Busch Series) races, but he gets a pass from most fans while Busch doesn't. Let's also remember that Martin never parlayed all those NW wins into a Cup championship either.
Some Busch fans claim that it's just his will to win that has him racing almost every race, in every series. How about if he only had one series to quench that burning desire for victory? If he only had one chance to win each week? You know, like the current five-time champion does.
Hi Gene!
ReplyDeleteYou know I've been wondering out load about all the racing Kyle does while looking at his lack of consistent success in the Cup series. Let's face it, he IS like a man among boys in the CWTS and the NWS. How many weekends this year have gone by without him visiting victory lane in at least one of the series? What, one or two?
The other side of the coin... How much does JJ get paid? I'll bet it's a heck of a lot more than Kyle if he just stuck to the big circuit. Compensation is another gray area in NASCAR. Kyle is now a 2nd year team owner. His will to transcend beyond simply being a driver must be right up there with his need to win. This is one busy boy!
Considering your argument that by racing all the time Kyle is continuing to grow hatred among the fans... I don't think it works that way. The big fans of NASCAR today seem to hate on anyone that threatens their favorite. Kyle Busch would be a threat to these people no matter what. Plus Kyle is a "love him or hate him" kind of guy. His brashness just doesn't appeal to a lot of people (personally I like it! Rub their nose in it Kyle! LOL!). So with that in mind, maybe a meek kinda touchy, feely guy like Kahne or lil Gator, if they won consistently, would take less time to build a fan base, but they'd still have their haters...
In some ways NASCAR is really refreshing in how the fans react to the drivers, then there are other things (like beer bottles thrown on the track) that really make me wonder.
Kyle is Kyle. I'd really like to see how he'd do if he just focused all of his abilities on the Cup series.
On last thing... I've never heard Kyle refer to the number of wins he's got in terms of comparing it to King Richard's record. It's always been the media. Am I wrong on that?
Thanks Gene!
AND... Another thing...
ReplyDeleteOut where the merchandise pushers were set up at Daytona, at 9:00 AM on NWS Saturday, I can personally attest that the fans were 4-5 deep in front of Kyle's sales truck, surpassing all but the number of Junior merchandise buyers... More than JJ, more than Jeff, more than Tony and so on.
Just in the last week or so I've read where this (Kyle's sales numbers) is true at every stop so far this season.
Kyle's winning is actually growing the number of his followers, at least from the merchandise sales standpoint and that's gotta mean something!
Kyle Busch is Kyle Busch plain and simple. Might as well enjoy it while he can. I am sure running three series will someday catch up with him and wear him out physicaly. Right now I think it is more about money than any thing else.
ReplyDeleteThe more you race, the more you win, and the more you make.
Dwindy... Thanks for all the input... from a KB fan's POV...LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how much JJ makes, but Kyle gets $10 million a year from JGR, just as his Cup salary. I'm sure he probably makes at least 5m more in other racing related income. When Kyle was getting most of his Truck wins, for Billy Ballew, he raced that truck for free.
I've heard Kyle comment a couple of times over the last couple of years that he wanted to win more than 200 NASCAR races.
Photogr... I have a feeling Kyle would race for free. He travels the country racing Late Models too. There's no way he's making any money doing that.
ReplyDeleteOne thing for sure... the more he races, the more he does win.
Kyle is a RACER, and I appreciate that. If he were a basketball player, he'd be a gym rat. He'd race 52 weeks a year if the season were that long, between Cup, NNS, Trucks, Late Models, Sprint Cars, you name it. (He'd even race lawn mowers if there were a lawn mower race SOMEWHERE! And he'd race to WIN!) The guy just loves to race, he loves the competition. Eventually, as he gets older, it will wear on him and he'll have to cut back his schedule. That, or being a father when the time comes.
ReplyDeleteDwindy, here you are....
ReplyDeletehttp://nascar.about.com/b/2009/05/04/kyle-busch-talks-about-200-wins-but-hes-no-richard-petty.htm
Most amazing about this link is that it's exactly two years old, and Kyle had 50 total wins then. He has 93 now!
Jon... Plenty of old guys race all the time. Dick Trickle, Ken Schrader, guys like that always race over a 100 times a year. Kyle's only 26, at his pace, he'll pass 200 wins soon after he turns 30. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteGene, I think Kyle's cut from that same cloth. As far as 200 wins, I think it's a case of comparing apples to oranges. Back in Petty's day, they didn't have Nationwide or the Truck Series. He raced a LOT, sometimes 3X a WEEK. Still, getting 200 wins would be an amazing feat once he accomplishes it.
ReplyDeleteI fully confess to not understanding why Kyle does it...no F1 driver decides to drive GP2 on the Saturday as well, it's all about getting to the top level and staying there.
ReplyDeleteTez.... well, there are a lot of other Cup drivers that race in the NNS not just Kyle. But, he just seems to have a passion to win every race in those lower series... I think if he just concentrated on Cup he would have that focus there.
ReplyDelete