Kyle Busch Is a What?

Brad Keselowski got it wrong on Saturday. The better term to describe Kyle Busch is winner. Love him or hate him, the kid is a winner in practically every sense of the word. While some hardware is missing from the trophy case for him to be considered one of the greats, at just 25 years of age Kyle has plenty of time to get there.

This week reminds us in depth why people say Kyle can win in anything. Aside from being the first to sweep a weekend in all three premiere series, another interesting story comes to us this week. Recently it was announced Kyle would be running a Traxxas off road truck in an upcoming race. What we learned this week was that in a test session Monday Kyle turned his first ever laps in one of the machines and was just a mere tenth off of the point leader’s fast time of the day.

As a racing enthusiast and Twitter addict I am fortunate enough to follow Kyle’s twitter stream. In addition to providing the true face behind the persona that most NASCAR fans love to hate, it is interesting to see just how many race events Kyle attends outside of NASCAR and just how frequently he wins.

While the talent is well documented, there’s more to Kyle than just a snobby kid who happens to be talented when it comes to racing. The motivation and desire he has for racing rivals anyone who has ever got behind the wheel of a car with the intention of going faster than somebody else.

The main argument I hear about Kyle is that he shows poor sportsmanship when a race doesn’t go his way. While the most mature thing to do is suck it up and do a post race interview I don’t see him on the bottom level of maturity when he refuses an interview. Every journalist and reporter approaches any assignment with the intention of getting the most interesting story. The problem with this is that getting the most interesting story when two drivers have an incident is to try and create a feud or controversy between the two drives.

Rather than do a post race interview and say something he might regret, Kyle often times refuses the interview and takes some time to gain his composure before speaking on the subject, which while I find perfectly understandable, others don’t see it the same way. This is the most common beef with Kyle and has led the less intelligent NASCAR fans to develop the clever nickname, Kryle.

To me, refusing the interview is much more mature than passive aggressively condoning the incident only to enthusiastically call him an ass in driver intros the next day. To me, this is the least mature thing a driver can do.

Over the last year, this excuse has began to shrink as Kyle has become much more mature. Still, many people don’t like the kid and refuse to admit he’s anything but childish. Yes, there have been times Kyle has shown a lack of maturity. I can attest that I was not the biggest Kyle Busch fan when he first entered the sport, while I thought there was talent, I was sure it would never fully be discovered because his attitude would make it impossible for any team to keep him long enough to help him develop.

While Rick Hendrick proved this theory correct, Joe Gibbs has proved me wrong. Coming into the #18 Kyle already had one strike against himself in my book. He was taking the seat vacated by my all time favorite driver who I still feel never got a fair shake. Over the last three years though I have found myself watching him more and more and it seems as if he’s maturing very quickly and while he still gets out of line from time to time, Joe and J.D. are right there to knock him down a peg and get him back in line.

Added to this, I think that Joey Logano coming to the team has helped wonders. There have been a few incidents with Joey where he was immature and maybe a little over aggressive, which is easy to do when you come into the sport with the expectations placed on you that he has. In my opinion, this has allowed Kyle a chance to step back and see himself in a mirror and see just how ludicrous some of the antics he pulled were.

Still, the majority of fans do not agree. I’ve thought long and hard about this and the answer is pretty simple, he’s a winner. While today Dale Earnhardt is thought of as a great driver that was well loved by all fans, this isn’t completely true. When Dale was in his prime, he had a strong following, and possibly an even strong crowd of haters booing him. It wasn’t until his twilight years when the wins became sparse that he became a fan favorite for all and the booing diminished. In the best of his years, Dale was loved by some, but respected by all.

After Dale, the torch was passed to Jeff Gordon. This is the account of haters I personally witnessed, as it came as my interest in NASCAR began to blossom. I remember the rumors. I remember the boos Jeff got from the crowd. It’s been quite a few years since he tallied the most wins in a season or a championship and to my ears it’s as if the boos have quieted when Jeff is on the big screen at the track. This isn’t to say the boos are gone.

Go to any NASCAR race today and there are two drivers who seem to get the majority of the hate from the crowd. Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch are showered in boos every time the crowd sees them at the track. Jimmie’s accomplishments are fully noted and respected by all; Kyle’s sometimes go unnoticed. With Jimmie winning the championship the last four years in a row, people tend to ignore the fact that that Kyle has tallied 15 wins in Cup competition and a whole mess of wins in the other two divisions in the last three seasons with no sign of stoppage. While a few drivers are capable of this it seems Kyle is the only one to do it in dramatic fashion that makes the crowd recognize how entertaining he actually is.

It doesn’t matter what Kyle does the sound of booing seems to be louder with every win he gets and while most would be upset by this, he loves it. As much as the fans hate to admit it, they love it too. Fans love to hate a driver. In every generation of drivers there is always someone the crowd loves to hate and in this generation it is Kyle.

With a beautiful fiancée, a successful upstart truck team, a career on the rise, and a whole nation of haters at just 25 years of age, Kyle is the definition of winner. More race wins will come aplenty and championships are but mere seasons away. The sound of boos mixed with cheers get louder by the race and Kyle Busch couldn’t love it more. Love him or hate him, Kyle Busch is a winner and we all have to respect that.