Don't ride Kyle Busch for wrecking Earnhardt
Persecuting driver for hard racing against Little E is hypocrisy at its worst
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CONCORD, N.C. - Three security guards followed Kyle Busch around Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where his safety was presumably still in danger from a victory-starved “Junior Nation” incensed over the late-race accident that cost Dale Earnhardt Jr. a victory.
Grow up, folks.
What happened with three laps to go Saturday night in Richmond was nothing more than hard racing, and persecuting Busch for it is hypocrisy at its worst. Sure, it’s been two long years since Earnhardt last visited Victory Lane, and the checkered flag was certainly in sight as he and Busch jostled for position in their determined bid to claim it.
But as they battled for the lead on old tires in the waning laps of a slug-it-out short track race, Busch went a tad too high and creeped into Earnhardt’s space as they entered the third turn. It sucked the air from the back of Busch’s car, causing his rear to wiggle. In his effort to save it, he made contact with Earnhardt, who was drifting into Busch’s line anyway.
The touch — which was so clearly a racing accident and anything but intentional — caused Earnhardt to spin up the track and back into the wall, stretching his losing streak to an agonizing 72 straight races. He was devastated and his fans were enraged, prompting Richmond security to escort Busch out of the track for his own protection.
Where was the outcry, though, when Earnhardt dumped Busch last October in Kansas?
That accident in the early laps of the third Chase race effectively ended Busch’s title hopes, dropping him from 10 points out of the championship lead to sixth in the standings, 136 out.
But there was no backlash against Junior, who ran all over the back of Busch that day in an accident far easier to assign blame than Saturday night’s little love tap. Earnhardt didn’t need an escort out of the track, wasn’t subjected to dangerous threats on message boards and most certainly wasn’t held to the same scrutiny Busch is currently under.
And he escaped widespread blame again in the season finale, when Earnhardt drove through the grass entering pit road and cut off Busch in his frantic dart back onto the surface. The damage to Busch’s front-end ensured he wouldn’t finish third in the final season standings — denying Hendrick Motorsports the 1-2-3 points sweep it had been seeking — and caused him to close his Hendrick career with a disappointing 20th-place run.
Granted, being NASCAR’s most popular driver affords Earnhardt an ardent fan base convinced its driver never does anything wrong. So it’s rather easy to bash Busch and blame him for robbing Junior of what could have been an easy victory if Busch had dutifully lifted off the gas and conceded the win to the crowd favorite.
But that’s not how racing works, and most certainly not what Joe Gibbs Racing is paying Busch to do this year.
Given a day to think about it, Earnhardt arrived Monday at Lowe’s two-day test session reluctant to dissect the Richmond incident any more. He admitted the circumstances have been reversed before, and casting blame on Busch wasn’t the right thing to do.
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“I took him out at Kansas last year during the Chase. That’s really why I wouldn’t be any more vocal or angry about it, because I would just be hypocritical in that sense,” Earnhardt said. “We both kind of been on each side of it now.”
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