Hendrick's Hiccup

On May 10, 2007, the shape of NASCAR changed forever.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was leaving the family business and joining NASCAR's version of the evil empire, Hendrick Motorsports.

There was some outrage by Jr's longtime fans that he was leaving to join Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, and Casey Mears in one of NASCAR's best stable ever.

However, one Hendrick fan, myself, was not convinced.

After watching Busch rise through the NASCAR ranks, I knew Hendrick had a keeper on their hands.  Just one problem.  They let him go.

It's been almost 13 months to the day since Earnhardt Jr. officially announced the deal, not enough time to truly evaluate things but enough time to get some perspective.

The stats jump out at you immediately.  In 13 starts, Dale Jr has one pole, zero wins (prolonging a rather large dry spell) five top fives and nine top tens.  Pretty decent numbers, good enough to put him third in points. 

He is 271 points back of the leader who is, you guessed it, Kyle Busch.

Driving a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, Busch has taken NASCAR by storm posting four wins, nine top fives, and 10 top tens.  Add to that the two poles he has won, and Busch is having a dream season so far.

The numbers don't lie, but they don't tell the entire story either.

Busch has also sent some energy into NASCAR, a sport that is quickly becoming drier than an Arizona desert in a heat wave.

Since sending Earnhardt Jr. into the wall earlier this season, Busch has become public enemy No. 1, something that has been very good for NASCAR.

Because for the first time in a long time, NASCAR has a driver who not only prefers to be a villain, but has the winning pedigree not only to back it up, but to add fuel to the fire.

If you look at NASCAR's past villains, Busch is the most unique of situations.

Jeff Gordon is a much hated driver in NASCAR, but he didn't really do anything to garner the hatred of racing's fans, other than win races.  He isn't a real dirty driver. 

He doesn't mouth off, and for the most part, is a really good guy.  He simply came onto the scene and piled up wins, rivalling Dale Earnhardt Sr. in the process.

Tony Stewart is a villain to some, but really, he only speaks his mind.  And only in NASCAR is something like that frowned upon.  Stewart is having a horrible year, and many fans look at his tongue wagging as pure whining, but most would argue when Stewart talks, he has a case more times than not.

And Kyle's brother Kurt played the bad guy for a while in NASCAR too.  Until NASCAR put the lid on him. 

The older Busch's on track antics were hard to tolerate for some, but it did generate excitement, there is no denying that.

But he did push it too far off the track, got in trouble with the law, and was forced to do community service.

Since then he has changed his way, and I mean, hey, good for him.  But really, knowing what past he had, and the attitude he used to show every week, now when he talks it seems so damn phony.

So, carrying on where his brother left off, Kyle Busch has become the most hated man in racing, and he has done it by taking pieces of all of the past pests.

He is young, cocky, and winning young, similar to Jeff Gordon.  He is also rivaling an Earnhardt, just like his former Hendrick teammate did back in the 90's.

Like Tony Stewart he isn't afraid to speak his mind about NASCAR issues like track conditions, Goodyear tires, and of course the COT.  After all, it was Kyle Busch who, moments after winning the first COT race, said the car "sucked."

And if nothing else, he at least resembles Kurt Busch.

There is a saying that I think applies here, and hopefully the NASCAR higher-ups feel the same way.

"Embrace The Chaos."

It is still far too early to tell how this will all end, but right now, it looks like Hendrick may have committed a rare mistake.

Kyle Busch's popularity, or lack thereof, could take NASCAR to new heights.