When a racer readily dishes out aggressive moves on the track, he needs to be willing to expect other drivers to show the same sort of aggression in return.
Kyle Busch has never been one to accept that reality, though.
Busch took offense to a move made by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. toward the end of Stage 2 on Sunday, when Stenhouse used the nose of his No. 17 Ford to nudge the No. 18 Toyota up the track for a pass. The racing move, which did not cause Busch to wreck, enabled Stenhouse to stay on the lead lap for the start of the next stage and allowed Chase Elliott to sneak past Busch for the stage victory.
Stenhouse’s crew chief, Brian Pattie, assured his driver that Busch would understand, but it didn’t sound like that was the case on the No. 18’s radio.
Busch was still hot about the incident after the race, and seemed to threaten payback.
“They were doing everything they could in order to stay on the lead lap, but when you’ve got the leader to your outside and you just keep banging him off the corner, that’s pretty disrespectful,” Busch said, according to CatchFence.com.
“But do whatever you want. You know, it’s going to come back and bite you one of these days. You’ve just got to always remember race car drivers are like elephants — they remember everything. Every time they see a mouse, they remember.”
If that’s the case, quite a few elephants owe Busch a bump or seven due to his antics over the years.
Thumbnail photo via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports Images
