Busch, Gordon address Charlotte postrace incident
By Jeff Gluck - Associate Editor
Thursday, June 05, 2008
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SCENE ON THE CIRCUIT
Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon both downplayed the disagreement they had following the Coca-Cola 600, which was resolved after the drivers spoke a few days later at Pocono Raceway.
Busch felt Gordon was racing him too hard late in the 600, and apparently flipped his middle finger at Gordon. That upset the four-time Cup champion, who criticized Busch’s method and timing of the complaint.
But both drivers said they had moved on prior to racing at Dover, with Gordon calling it a “non-issue.”
“Kyle’s aggressive, and he got aggressive back with me when that happened and so we had a little misunderstanding,” Gordon said. “He just came up to me the wrong time after the race trying to talk to me about it.”
Busch said he “wasn’t too pleased with [Gordon], so I let him know.”
“Then, after the race, I went up to him and asked him what I ever did to deserve to be raced that way,” Busch said.
Gordon told Busch that his Hendrick Motorsports car wasn’t capable of passing people at the time, so he was fighting for every position.
“I respect that, but I just felt like I could have used a little bit more racing room than what he gave me,” Busch said.
But Busch’s words on his team radio during the Coca-Cola 600 might linger longer than his incident with Gordon.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver allegedly had some trash talk for his former Hendrick teammates, and that eventually filtered back to the Hendrick drivers.
If they took offense, they aren’t saying.
“We say a lot of things on the radio that I don’t pay attention to,” Gordon said. “... I’m sure that he’s not happy about the way he left Hendrick, but I would think he’s got to be pretty happy where he’s at right now.
“It’s just Kyle being Kyle. If he did say those things, I think that’s just a part of his youthfulness and his personality, and that’s not anything I’m really concerned about.”
Said Hendrick’s Jimmie Johnson: “There is no doubt that he enjoys trying to run us hard and trying to finish better than us, which is what he’s done this year. ... And what’s sport without trash-talking? What’s sport without these little rivalries? I’m glad it’s being publicized, but I don’t think it’s as bad as people make it out to be.”
Some drivers were asked, in light of his incident with Gordon, whether Busch treats veterans with proper respect. Kevin Harvick said that while Busch is an “incredibly talented driver,” his youthfulness shows through in some situations.
“That’s not a bad thing – I’ve been in the same boat, and you learn to respect the people around you,” Harvick said. “It takes its toll on you. ... You have to respect the guys who laid the foundation for the sport that got you here.
“The immaturity is probably the biggest [negative about] him, and this sport has a very good way of breaking you of those habits pretty easily.”
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