The 2010 NASCAR Cup Series season had one of the most memorable driver intros of all time. It happened at the Bristol Motor Speedway and back then, Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski were two of the fastest drivers on track. There was a serious rivalry between the two back then as Rowdy had wrecked the then-Team Penske driver that weekend in the Nationwide Series race earlier. Ahead of the Cup race, Keselowski called him an “ass” in public thanks to Juan Pablo Montoya playing devil’s advocate and egging him on.
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Montoya and Keselowski had been talking before the driver intros and the multi-time Formula One race winner dared him to say it on the microphone in front of everyone else. The Team Penske man, nonchalant as ever, went on stage, took the mic, and said, “Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing Dodge. Kyle Busch is an ass.” And then simply walked off with a hint of a smile on his face.
It drew one of the most thunderous reactions from a crowd in the sport’s history. As per a report, the noise went up to 104.2 decibels. Today, Rowdy is one of the most loved and respected men in NASCAR but that wasn’t the case back in 2010. Busch had a reputation for being overly aggressive and wrecking others to win races. Fans could not get behind such an attitude and the then-Joe Gibbs Racing driver was one of the most hated men in the sport.
“Juan Montoya and I were talking about it (before driver introductions), and he said I wouldn’t do it,” Keselowski had said at the time. “I said, ‘Hell yeah I’ll do it!’ The preacher was standing there and I said, ‘Hey man, would you be offended if I said, ‘Ass?’ He said, ‘No, man! ‘Ass’ is in the Bible.’ I said, ‘Thank you very much!'”
The two had a moment during the race as Busch tried to lap Keselowski. However, the driver of the #12 just would not let the #18 pass, crowding him out and making things difficult. He did not think much of it as he felt like he was having fun. Rowdy, on the other hand, was sarcastic in his way.
“Who? I don’t know who you’re talking about,” the two-time Cup Series champion had said when asked about the on-track scuffle. “I saw it, but I passed it,” he added when he was informed that it was the #12 car. Today, there is a lot of respect between the two racing veterans. Fans across the country love them both and would celebrate hard if either were to become champion again. Given the competition, that just might be wishful thinking at this point.
