Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin used to be teammates for the longest time before Rowdy headed off to RCR. During their time together, it was usually Busch who had the villain persona on and off the racetrack. But over the past couple of years, it seems that the #8 driver has become more mellow, while Hamlin has taken up the villain role in NASCAR.
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While speaking with Kenny Wallace, the two-time Cup Series champion shared his honest opinion regarding his former teammate and how he has morphed into this villainous personality. Busch mentioned, “I applaud Denny for taking on the role. It’s fun to see it from another side because I knew how to live it.”
“And that’s the thing man like, you just have to embrace it and you just have to roll with it and go with it and take it on… And say like, ‘Yeah, you hate me because I’m a badass and you’re just jealous’ like yeah!”
Kyle Busch talks about the time when NASCAR changed its rules because of him
There have been quite some instances where the governing body had to change the rules and regulations surrounding the sport because a driver did something. Well, for Busch such a change in the rule book has happened multiple times. While speaking with Wallace, the driver spoke about how he had won a Truck Series race at Fontana when he was 16 years old. But promptly after the race, the NASCAR increased the age limit to 18 for participation in the future.
Busch explained the main reason behind the ruling saying, “We were at Fontana and Marlboro had sponsorship of the IndyCar weekend. So I was in the newspaper. 16-year-old Kyle Busch to participate at this weekend’s Marlboro 500 driving in the Truck Series. Marlboro had nothing to with the Truck Series.”
“It was painted on the grass in the infield. The State Attorneys General of California said ‘No no we can’t have this. Send them packing’. And at that time Winston was sponsoring the Cup Series. This was all prior to 2004 when Nextel took over.”
Since the sponsors of the race were all cigarette companies, seeing a 16-year-old boy race wasn’t in the agreement between big tobacco companies and the State Attorney General. Following his win, Busch was scheduled to race a full Truck season with Roush Racing, but thanks to the ruling, he was barred from participating until he reached the age limit.
