A lot has been said about the Next Gen car leading to more aggression on the track after the Denny Hamlin-Kyle Larson incident at Pocono. While many agree with Hamlin on the move being fair considering it was necessary for the win, others tend to believe that there is a certain code between drivers at the race track. This is something two-time Cup champion Kyle Busch opened up about during the race at Richmond.
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Busch has had his fair share of run-ins with other drivers over the years, with the incident involving Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2008 at Richmond being one of the flash points. The former JGR driver cited the incident while commenting on the Hamlin incident, also expanding on his general approach to racing.
Kyle Busch refers to Dale Earnhardt Jr. incident to make his case
Explaining the difference between a move he regards as dirty or clean, the RCR driver said, “My issue with Dale Earnhardt Jr. here in 2008 was we were racing, battering hard side-by-side, you keep inching into the corner a little bit deeper every single time and there’s going to be a time where you go over that limit and you slip, and that was me and made contact with him. We were side-by-side for three laps, and it was kind of building up. It was going to be inevitable.”
“But those are hard racing moments and those are moments in which you’re pushing a little bit more. When you get side-by-side with somebody for the first chance, and you just whack them out? That’s not racing, that’s whacking.”
When asked if his actions will be determined by who he is up against, Busch had a clear response, saying, “Yeah, yeah, I would say it definitely matters who you’re around and who you’re racing with; what they’re history is and what your history with them is how they’re going to be raced or how you think should race them.”
Busch on why he believes in clean racing
With the stakes so high when on the track, drivers are always tempted to push the boundary and have to make judgment calls. On if he would do a move similar to what Hamlin did to Larson, the #8 driver said, “You try to win races as clean as you can right? I mean that’s always kind of been my way of being brought up. You have to have a race car to go to the next week with, so if you’re crashing your stuff or somebody else’s stuff, they’re going to come back and crash you later.”
After a disastrous 2022 season, Busch will certainly fancy his chances for a third Cup Series championship this year. It will be interesting to see how Busch reacts if he finds himself in a similar situation to his former JGR teammate and if he really walks the talk.
