(Photo by Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR)
As the first part of my sure-to-be-best-seller, A Beginner's Guide to Hating Kyle Busch, I offer up this introduction as a teaser for those already familiar with him as well as for those who might be new to NASCAR and know of him only by reputation.
The impetus for this began a little over a year ago when someone asked the following on a "question-and-answer" Web site: "Why do people hate Kyle Busch?"
Before going on you may be asking, "Why should anyone listen to a Kyle Busch 'apologist' when it comes to listing reasons to hate NASCAR's most disliked driver?"
To which I would respond, "Maybe because as a Rowdy fan, I've heard them all, time and time again."
Back to the original question, I answered it as honestly as I could from the eyes of a Busch-basher, added a bit of "big picture" perspective, and in doing so my response was chosen as the "Best Answer."
The question was posed by someone claiming to be a newcomer to NASCAR who couldn't seem to understand the animosity toward the boy he heard about in the few chances he had been able to catch a race.
Results of investigations into whether or not the person posing the question was in fact a newcomer to NASCAR Nation or was just another Busch-basher wanting to live vicariously through other people's responses to the question have yet to be divulged to the general public.
This was by no means the first time this question was asked, nor was it to be the last.
I continued to follow that site and many others and have found that answers to this question are usually vehement, vitriolic, and sometimes downright vile—especially when such questions and responses come from fans of Junior Nation, although they are by no means alone in their disdain for the 23-year-old Las Vegas native.
Mind you, other drivers, including the mild-mannered Jeff Burton and the sometimes not-so-mild-mannered Carl Edwards, have said things about or done things to NASCAR's most popular driver during his Cup career and have had to deal with few to none of the ramifications that Kyle was about to face.
But then again, this was different.
The particular time the question was asked was a time of extreme emotions. Kyle had been involved just weeks before in the now-famous tangle with Dale Jr. at Richmond in the Spring of 2008.
In that race, Junior seemed well on his way to breaking his streak of not having won a race in two years until he and Busch got together near the end of the race resulting in Busch finishing second and Junior 16th.
39 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete