Jeff Gluck: Kyle Busch ventures into the world of message boards
Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch won four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2009. // LaDon George, NASCAR Scene
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COMMENTARY
Most web-savvy NASCAR fans have visited a racing message board or two.
These boards are filled with anonymous posters, some who want to talk racing and support their favorite driver; others whose sole purpose seems to be based on ripping hated drivers or writing nasty things they otherwise wouldn’t say if not hiding behind a screen name.
Because of the latter group, these message boards are not exactly the best place for a driver to visit – especially one who is criticized regularly.
After all, why would people want to read horrible things about themselves? That takes “don’t read your own press” to a whole new level.
But the driver who is perhaps ripped more than anyone hasn’t always listened to that advice.
In a recent interview, Kyle Busch acknowledged being a past visitor to NASCAR message boards and said he used to surf the web to see what his harshest fan critics were saying about him.
The posts from those who lobbed shots at Busch from the comfort of their basement got his attention. Think Busch doesn’t care how the fans feel about him? Think again.
“I wanted to see what people were saying, see if I could do anything better, see what people were pissed off about,” Busch explained of his reasoning for exposing himself to the harsh world of Internet critics.
While Busch has made gains with younger fans and non-traditional fans, he still has a long way to go with older fans who dislike his brash style and his attitude when he loses.
A recent study by marketing/public relations firm Taylor showed Busch is among the most-liked drivers for male and female fans ages 18-24 but is one of the least-liked for male fans ages 45 and up.
Busch often receives the most boos during driver introductions. At one time he was thought to have embraced the bad-guy role, but that seems to have been a front more than anything; no one likes to be hated.
And at times, during the height of the outrage directed toward him (particularly from Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans), Busch would scroll through NASCAR message boards to see what people were writing about him.
The message from angry posters didn’t have their intended impact on Busch. If anything, he said, it just motivated him further.
“[I looked] also to fuel the fire and prove people wrong,” he said, “and that’s how I feel like I can do the best: When I can win on Sundays or Saturdays and prove people wrong.”
So does Busch feel he needs to actively seek out those critics to make him race harder? Is he driven by a chip on his shoulder?
He shook his head.
“Do I look for it or try to find it? I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t see that.”
Ultimately, it’s not as though Busch enjoyed reading nasty things about himself. He eventually came to realize that it was perhaps a losing battle with some fans and began to log on less often.
“I’ve gotten away from it, because it’s stupid,” he said. “You read something, and they’re always going to have their opinion about any driver that’s out there, whether it’s me, whether it’s Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Dale Jr., Jimmie Johnson.
“There’s a lot of people out there who bash Jimmie Johnson, and yet the guy doesn’t do anything wrong. He’s a perfect model citizen of America, and yet he can’t be perfect [in some critics’ eyes]. So you know you can’t please them all.”
Busch hasn’t been afraid to find out what people think of him. Whether he’ll eventually win over the outspoken critics he discovered on the message boards remains to be seen.
