In a very heated and public argument between Busch and team owner Roger Penske over the radio two weeks ago in a Sprint Cup race at the Goody's 500 in Martinsville, Virginia, Busch blamed Penske for what he thought was a poor pit stop adjustment of his No. 2 Dodge, starting the much-publicized tiff by exclaiming, "That was a stupid adjustment. I hope we're proud of that run. Our day is about shot now." Penske tried to calm down Busch, but the driver came back with more fightin' words, responding to Penske's critique of "If you didn't blow yourself up we'd be a lot better, I'll tell you that right now. All we hear is a bunch of stuff on the radio. So let's get serious here, you understand?" with "10-4 Dude. 10-4 Roger, we don't make any good adjustments during the race. If we started 39th, we'd be three laps down. Do you understand that?"
While this exchange over the radio at the Martinsville race was full of heat-of-the-moment words that largely don't stick once the race is over, the argument has sparked overwhelming talk in the NASCAR realm following the incident, causing Busch to go public with words smoothing over the situation with he and Roger Penske, a relationship in which Busch claims is completely fine now. Backing up his heated words while he was in action at Martinsville, Busch recently made a statement talking about how driver-team conversations shouldn't be publicly broadcasted during races, saying, "You don't hear what the coach says to his offensive and defensive coordinators in the NFL. You don't get to hear what they say in baseball when they call to the bullpen, and we don't hear in the huddle [of a football game], and that's usually pretty animated."
Touche, but this isn't the first time Busch has lashed out at his team on the radio. Last year after a spin at the Auto Club Speedway of Southern California, Busch came over the radio fuming with, "We have no idea what we're doing at Penske Racing I don't even know how to drive anymore, thanks for that Tell me when my contract is over." To his defense, however, Busch usually keeps his outbursts on the radio and out not in public, like many other athletes including the IRL's golden girl Danica Patrick. Patrick has been known to confront any and every driver who gets in her way of a high finish in an IndyCar race, and she has been a YouTube favorite over the past few years for her bad-tempered actions on the track such as pushing Dan Wheldon, storming off the track several times and even getting in Milka Duno's face last year and yelling, "You have no idea what you're doing out there! It's not my fault you're slow."
Should Kurt Busch, then, be hailed as NASCAR's pinpointed poor-tempered 'dude'? He's undoubtedly said things in highly charged situations that he regrets, but at least he keeps it over the radio. Busch is not likely to jump out into the crowd and pummel fans like Ron Artest in the 2004 Indiana Pacers - Detroit Pistons NBA brawl, and the racing realm will continue supporting Sprint Cup's No. 2 driver as he zooms his way toward the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings. Kurt Busch has already made up for his Martinsville melee with a No. 8 finish at Texas on April 5, and he hopes to continue cruising onward to that number one position as NASCAR makes its way toward the upcoming Coca-Cola 600. To catch Kurt Busch in action in the May 24 Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, get Coca-Cola 600 tickets online and head down to the track!
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Article Source: Coca-Cola 600 Tickets - Is Kyle Busch Becoming NASCAR's Danica Patrick?
Kevin Conway Joe Nemechek Jason Leffler Kevin Harvick Armour
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