Kyle Busch's Biggest Rival Is Not On the Track, It's Himself

A common theme this season has been Kyle Busch in the news every week.   Whether he's winning, losing, or in a wreck, his name is mentioned at race's end.

This season Busch has really gotten under the skin of some drivers, and has definitely drawn the ire of the fans.  His crowd reaction each weekend is filled with boos and many thumbs down.  

It reminds me of when Jeff Gordon was winning all those races in the 90s and got the same reaction.

The big different between Gordon in the 90s and Busch today is that Gordon's biggest rivals were on the track.  Busch has his rivals on the track, but his biggest rival is not another driver.

Kyle Busch's biggest rival is truthfully...Kyle Busch.

Coming off a season that saw Busch win over 20 races in NASCAR's three major series, including a record 10 in Nationwide and a season-high eight in Sprint Cup, obviously his expectations were high.

This year, Busch sits tenth in Sprint Cup points and only has three wins, but he leads the Nationwide points with five wins.  Still, Busch calls this year by his own account a "failure."

I admit, I'm not a fan of Busch, but by all accounts this season has not been a failure.  Busch considers it a failure because he's not in victory lane each week.

In the Nationwide Series, he's got his five wins, but has finished second just as much.  Even with that, his comments about finishing second are as if it doesn't matter.

His most notable comments have been his sarcastic "Good points day," and my personal favorite, "That's what we came here to do, run second."

Any driver would be happy for a win, but to make comments like that about running second is just outrageous.

Busch is his own worst rival because he sets himself on a pedestal so high that anything worst than a victory means nothing to him.  It is as if Busch is not worried about the championship, he wants to win races and win his championships before season's end.

If Busch can see that he cannot win every race, he will realize the ultimate goal of every driver:  the championship.  Wins will come as they may, but the championship must be earned.

Busch may call this season a failure; I call it a learning experience.  The competition has closed up on Busch and has made him realize that he is beatable.

If the Chase started right now, Busch would be second, just ten points back from Mark Martin.  That is prime position for Busch, and he is more than capable of taking the lead in one race.

He's not going to let what happened to him last year in the Chase occur two straight years.

By no means has this season been a failure for Busch.  Once he realizes that he doesn't have to win every race to to be successful, he'll turn his season around.