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Meg, I liked the flowers, too! Especially the gold/yellow one. I would much much rather look at those than the wrecks. I opened one of the wrecks and ignored...
Busch: 'I'd like to listen' to what Earnhardt Jr. has to say
By SceneDaily Staff
Monday, May 05, 2008
Doug Benc
Getty Images
CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Busch said Monday he hasn’t seen the replay of his incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 at Richmond International Raceway but joked that there are plenty of things he could have done differently.
“Yeah, there’s plenty of things you could probably do differently,” Busch said during a break in Sprint Cup Series test at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I could’ve been on a beach in South Carolina or on the lake in North Carolina, I could’ve been at home in Las Vegas.”
Of course, Busch was racing for the win when he dove inside Earnhardt Jr. in Turn 3 during the closing laps of the race. Only Busch came out of the turn, as Earnhardt Jr. ended up backing into the outside wall.
“In that particular instance, we probably could’ve gave each other a little bit more room,” Busch said. “I probably could’ve dove a little earlier for the bottom. Junior probably could’ve run somewhat similar to the line he had been running the previous run and the first couple laps of that restart.
“But he was trying to find something that would work better for his car so he could get away from me. We just made contact, and unfortunately, he got the worst brunt of it.”
The two have yet to talk about the crash, though Busch said he called Earnhardt Jr. on Monday morning, only to get voice mail. Busch, though, is ready to move on from the incident.
“I hope we can talk about it and put it behind us,” Busch said. “I’ve reached out to Junior. … Hopefully, we’ll either see each other in the garage or we’ll see each other later.”
Busch said he wanted to “talk it over and see what his feelings are,” hoping the two drivers have similar thoughts about the wreck.
“He’s grown up knowing one of the best in the sport, so I’m sure he’s got a lot of knowledge that he could still relay to me,” Busch said, referring to Earnhardt Jr.’s father, seven-time series champion Dale Earnhardt. “I’d like to listen.”
One thing Busch has had to listen to is the negative reaction from Junior Nation. It began Saturday night after the race and hasn’t slowed much. Busch said he hasn’t heard of any death threats, but other reaction doesn’t seem to bother him.
“It wasn’t too bad [in Richmond after the race],” Busch said. “We were going back from the infield to the motorhome, and there wasn’t anything. And then going from the motorhome to the helicopter, there were a couple fans yelling derogatory comments. It’s nothing new to me anyway, so I’m used to it.
“I pretty much told them, ‘Grow up.’ That’s racing. We’re racing hard. I feel like there’s a lot more worse cases in this world than somebody getting spun out in a race.”
Besides, Busch said, plenty of NASCAR champions have been vociferously jeered in the past – including Dale Earnhardt Sr.
“Earnhardt Sr. was one of those guys, Rusty Wallace was one of those guys, [Darrell] Waltrip was one of those guys,” Busch said. “To me, it’s nothing new to this sport. Jeff Gordon was one of those guys. He gets booed an awful lot, and Jimmie Johnson does, too. It’s been here, it’s been around.
“Driver intros, you don’t pay attention to. You go out there, you get introduced. You put your sponsor’s nameplate out there on your chest, and you stick it out there and keep your head up high and stay proud. You jump in your race car and let your racing do your talking.”
That’s what he did Saturday, and what he said Joe Gibbs Racing pays him to do: race hard and win races.
“We know that it was a racing incident and racing hard by both of us and not really giving each other a lot of room,” Busch said. “That’s a product of Richmond, a product of the [car of tomorrow] and the hard racing that it provides for us."
Mentioned Drivers: Kyle Busch
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
7 responses to "Busch: 'I'd like to listen' to what Earnhardt Jr. has to say". Post a Comment.
Anonymous said:
May 5, 2008 at 3:42 PMI couldn't believe that the FOX announcers stuck up for Kyle. They all said that he must have gotten loose and didn't mean to cause the wreck. Boy, it sure was funny during his post-race interview, he didn't say a word about being loose. He just said that Jr. could havee moved up. That tells you how Jr. got wrecked. Kyle needs to be parked if continues to wreck people
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» Confirm Abuse Reportangela conley said:
May 5, 2008 at 5:19 PMI agree with anonymous, however, before the announcers got their notes jiving - Darrell had already made the comment that Kyle turned his wheels to the right. that means to me, to the right ... right into Jr. There is no mistaking the intent no matter how many times you show it or how many times you try to change the truth.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportValeri Leist said:
May 5, 2008 at 7:49 PMThat's rich; Kyle Busch telling someone else to grow up! Kyle Busch is a thug and a punk.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportRebecca Bethel said:
May 5, 2008 at 8:08 PMI agree with everyone that Kyle did turn right just to wreck Jr. I hope someone takes Kyle out but not Jr., or they will take points away from him. Also how about Denny? When Jr. did that he got in trouble with Nascar.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportKatie Wirick said:
May 6, 2008 at 12:59 AMIf Kyle Busch Really wanted to wreck Junior it would of been at a point where Kyle Busch Could of won. Not at a place where Bowyer wins and he finishes second. Junior fans are poor losers.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportVALIRE PARRISH said:
May 6, 2008 at 6:32 PMMR KYLE BUSCH DID WRECK JR JUST TO SHOW THAT HE COULD AND GET BY WITH IT I WOULD LIKE FOR SOMEONE TO TELL ME WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT MR BUSCH HE IS JUST A PUNK AND HE THINKS HE IS THE KING ALL HE IS IS JUST MAD BECAUSE HE IS NOT HALF THE MAN OR RACE CAR DRIVER JR IS
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWorm Dirt said:
May 7, 2008 at 12:14 PMWell....I would love to direct some of you who wrote the comments above to an article by Jeff Owens called "Kyle Busch's aggressive driving style similiar to those of past drivers", but this website and its bought-and-sold censorship police have REMOVED it. It spoke a lot of truth and had an interesting angle on this whole ordeal. I GUESS THEY DON'T RESPECT OUR INTELLIGENCE ENOUGH TO HANDLE IT. If you are curious, PLEASE send an e-mail to Scene Daily to ask them to put it back up, and if you have time maybe even ask WHY they took it down in the first place!!!!!!! (just go to the scene daily home-page and at the bottom click "Contact Us".
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