NASCAR Cup Series veteran Kurt Busch’s career was a roller coaster of emotions. From the fiery upstart who joined Roush Racing to making peace with his career after his unfortunate concussion in the Next Gen car, Busch has seen everything in between. One such instance from his aggressive days comes when an irate post-race Busch lashed out at the media.
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Busch was seen competing for his brother’s Xfinity Series team in 2012 at Dover. After the race, he exchanged heated words with prominent NASCAR journalist Bob Pockrass, seemingly irritated by the latter’s questions surrounding the 2004 Cup champion’s probation.
Driver-turned-broadcaster Kyle Petty had some choice words for Busch as the scene unfolded at the time, “He doesn’t give respect, although he wants respect from other people. That attitude is going to get him sitting on a couch watching TV. His grandmother, if she’s watching, she’s the one that should have a talk with him.”
So what did Kurt Busch say to Bob Pockrass that entailed this reaction from Petty? After the 2012 Dover Xfinity race, Pockrass asked Busch if he raced Justin Allgaier differently since he was on probation for driving through Ryan Newman’s pit box during the earlier Cup Series race at Darlington.
“It refrains me from not beating the shit out of you right now”
That was the reaction Pockrass received from a visibly angry Busch who went on to rant about the journalist’s approach to questioning him about his race. He went on to add further in the same interview, and said, “You ask me stupid questions. But since I’m on probation I suppose that’s improper to say as well. If you could talk about racing things we could talk about racing things.”
Busch’s heated exchange with Allgaier post-race would certainly not have helped Pockrass’ cause as he tried to ask the now 46-year-old about his day.
Building on Petty’s words from before Xfinity Series winner and prominent NASCAR personality in the current day and age, Kenny Wallace also jokingly chimed in on the incident at the time. He said, “The man’s on probation, it worked because he was going to punch him and he didn’t. So I mean, it worked, right?”
Despite the topsy-turvy temperament Busch possessed during his heyday in NASCAR, he was one of the most adored drivers on the field just before he was forced to retire after an unfortunate qualifying crash at Pocono Raceway in 2022.
He was never cleared fit to race ever since and took the decision to step away from the cockpit once and for all.
