If you feel like Kyle Busch has gotten softer, think again. An entire week after the skirmish between him and Christopher Bell at COTA, Busch had just one thing to say about how he is going to race Bell moving forward: “Run him harder for a bit until he concedes that he’s sorry on the racetrack.” Isn’t this the Kyle Busch that we love?
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However, Busch expects to be raced with more respect for a different reason. Bell was once a part of Kyle Busch Motorsports. The JGR driver made 54 starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the Rowdy-owned team between 2015 and 2018. Bell even won the 2017 Truck Series championship for KBM. Considering his previous alliance with Rowdy, the latter feels that Bell’s way of racing him was especially hurtful.
“It’s definitely frustrating especially when they are the KBM alums,” said Busch. “When you’re racing guys that have come through KBM, and you’ve helped them along the way and you feel as though they’re taking that extra 10% rather than giving a little bit out of respect.”
Christopher Bell promises to be respectful toward Kyle Busch
Just the day after the race at COTA, Bell called up Busch to talk things out. Although Busch didn’t pick up the phone, he did call Bell back the next day. Thankfully, it was a good conversation, and things didn’t go southward. All’s well that ends well; Bell told Frontstretch that he would be racing his fellow competitor with more respect like he always does.
Recalling the number of times he has had encounters with Busch on the racetrack, the Toyota sensation said, “We don’t have a lot of run-ins, but the two times that we had run-ins, he’s been on the losing side of it. So, I’ll just race him with respect as I always try to.”
Needless to say, Bell has mad respect for his ex-boss. He revealed that he has been talking to Busch more often, especially since Brexton (Rowdy’s son) started running dirt cars, which, again, is Bell’s area of expertise. Things seem to have settled down between the two. But what about Busch’s resolve to make Bell feel sorry on the racetrack until the latter concedes?
Will that happen at Richmond?
