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Friday, June 12, 2009

Jr. takes issue with Kyle Busch calling his fans ‘crazy’

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Once again, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are at odds over a comment by NASCAR’s troublemaker in chief.

Busch’s outrageous quote of the week is “I’ve got no issues with Junior -- it’s his fans that are crazy, but that’s all right.”

It was given in response to a question about how fans reacted to Busch smashing the guitar after his win at Nashville, and Busch, in a tongue-in-cheek manner, explained that all the Jr. fans were the ones with the biggest concern.

Jr., though, does not see how Busch’s comments are anything but hype.
“I think the guy is just trying to direct a lot of people to his Web site or to his column and generate ad revenue for said Web site I suppose. I really don’t see how that argument is relevant to anything and I don’t even know really what kind of problem he has or what kind of solution he wants. I don’t really get into it.”

He continued, “My fans will handle themselves. They’re good people. We’ve got a lot of great fans that follow this sport and they’re very loyal to us and we need them more now than ever right now so I think anyone who would be calling them out and stirring them up is causing problems not only for himself but everyone else in this sport.”

All this back-and-forth may pump up fans of either driver, but it makes me wish they were both running up front every week. It would make the war of words an actual, legitimately exciting rivalry … think Petty-Pearson, Petty-Allison, etc.

It’s been many years since we’ve seen a rivalry like that, as all the frontrunner drivers seem too chummy now.

Vickers’ Toyota on pole at MIS
Speaking of quotes, this one by polesitter Brian Vickers might ruffle a few feathers among supports of the U.S. automakers. Asked whether it’s special for Toyota to win the pole in the back yard of the Big 3, he said his pole win “probably bothers the Big 3 more than Toyota really cares.”

I doubt he meant insult with the comment, but in these times when auto sales are so competitive and many Americans are anti-foreign automakers, I can see some fans having an unfavorable reaction to it.

Other qualifying notes
A.J. Allmendinger surprised with a sixth-place qualifying effort, and Robby Gordon was 13th.
Disappointments include Carl Edwards in 29th, but good drivers can always find a way to pass on the wide track at MIS. Dale Jr. will start 30th, and we’ll see if he can work with his new crew chief and make his way up front.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think Kyle is correct, except that instead of crazy, I would call some of them clueless, some of them idiots and some of them sheep (ready to drink the kool ade when they are told to). Very few of them are actual race fans.
Kyle is driven to win and, I believe, could care less how many hits he gets on his web site. Junior, on the other hand, as evidenced by his comments, thinks that web site hits are important because they generate income. His quest for income is what has him in 20th position in the standings. Kyle's quest for nothing but wins (which is what every race fan says is the most important thing) has him in the top 10 in the standings.
My personal opinion is that the crowd that calls itself Junior Nation can find nothing good to say about their driver so they are left to run down the other drivers.

June 14, 2009 at 9:16 AM 

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