LOUDON, N.H. — If it were up to David Ragan, NASCAR would be full of temperamental drivers like Kyle Busch.
The Front Row Motorsports driver, like most of the racing world, saw Busch’s hissy fit after the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. And although the antics didn’t sit well with some, Ragan feels NASCAR could use a jolt of personality.
“I think that in our sport, sometimes, we have gotten too politically correct,” Ragan, who was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Wednesday for a testing session, told NESN Fuel. “And we all are worried about our sponsorship, relationships and image, and try to have that squeaky clean.
“But I think it’s OK to be a little rough around the edges and to act a fool. And if Kyle Busch wants to be a jerk and to be upset after a race, then more power to him. I love it.”
But Ragan doesn’t just want NASCAR to be more interesting. He wants everyone, everywhere to be less predictable.
“I mean, I think it would be a boring world if we were all robots and were exactly the same, and we were all politically correct, and we said the right things, and we smiled, and we were friendly and we shook hands,” Ragan said.
“I think that everybody’s their own person. You can be a jerk, you can be a nice guy, you can be a woosy, you can be whatever — but if you can driver a race car than that’s okay.
As Ragan alluded to, deviating from the corporate song and dance is easier said than done. A few people even raised their eyebrows when he appeared at a Donald Trump rally in 2016. The pressure to maintain a sponsor-friendly image is something even the youngest drivers in the sport are conscientious of.
Still, he and Ryan Blaney will take the free entertainment wherever they can get it.
Thumbnail photo via Adam Hagy/USA TODAY Sports Images
