The Start of the 2012 season could not come soon enough for Kurt and Kyle Busch. After a great 2011 season, ending with controversy and bad choices, Kurt and Kyle are gearing up for another year of racing.
Kyle will be returning to Joe Gibbs Racing with M&M's and Interstate Batteries as his sponsor. They expect him to be on his best behavior. While I don't expect the feud between he and Kevin Harvick to be over, I do not believe that it will be as intense. No matter what any Busch hater wants to believe Harvick is the instigater in this feud, and it is only continuing on because he wants it to. Does that mean Kyle Busch is completely innocent? No it does not! Kyle did what he had to at Darlington, but still could have handled it alot better. Darlington was a heat of the moment deal, however so to sit there and throw stones, but if you had to, the whole thing could have been avoided if Harvick had not tried to make such a daring pass on Kyle. Then Kyle gets into it with Richard Childress, only this time it wasn't Kyle Busch's fault at all. Richard's reaction to a congradulatory bump to his driver Joey Coulter by Kyle Busch in the first weekend at Kansas during the Truck race was completely uncalled for, but Richard Childress took it the wrong way. He had a deal with Elliott Sadler in the Truck race at Bristol where he and Elliott wrecked and he spun him later in retaliation. Plus to add to the drama, got a speeding ticket while test driving sports cars with Denny Hamlin.
Kyle has been his own worst enemy, but to put 100% of the blame on him is inappropriate. Looking back at one of the Pocono races, I believe it was Pocono race 1, that Kevin Harvick was trying to ram into Kyle and Kyle wanted no part in it. Plus, this whole thing started in Homestead of 2010, when Harvick purposely spun Kyle off the track and into the inside wall, just because he could. NASCAR never did a thing to him.
But now, putting all this aside, Kyle has an opportunity to start anew for 2012. He will return to the wheel of the #18 M&M's Toyota, and also drive his own Nationwide #54 sponsored by Monster Energy, driving 13-15 events, the least amount of races he has ever driven in the Nationwide Series since maybe 2003. Driving Zero Truck races, after the big deal that got him in trouble when he wrecked Ron Hornaday under caution and got parked for the rest of the Texas weekend, instead Jason Leffler will drive the #18 Truck for 14 races and maybe other drivers will take the other 8, unless some more sponsors come to Leffler's aide. Kyle Busch has alot to prove attitude wise, but no one has the right to make him change his passion for racing and his "Rowdy" driving style. People really need to lay off the dude, especially fans of Kevin Harvick, how much crap has this guy pulled? A lot! Kyle is only human, he is going to make mistakes. Sitting there and whining about everything he does will just make it worse. Kyle Busch will definitely try to win the hearts of some fans by racing clean and winning races, but at the same time being himself. Kyle is also going for that illusive successful Chase run, I believe that Kyle's new limitations will help him better focus on his Sprint Cup opperation so he can go win that TITLE!
Also I want to point out that Kyle is INDEED a team player. He took FULL responsibility for all his actions, most notably the incident with Hornaday. While he was parked for Texas, he could have went home and felt sorry for himself, as most people would have predicted he would have done. But he apologized to his team and requested permission to sit on the pit box and watch Michael McDowell struggle with HIS racecar. Kyle earned even more of my respect that day.
Fate has not been as kind to the older Kurt Busch. Kurt, after outbursts about his team at Penske Racing, at Jerry Punch in the Finale at Homestead, and most likely the rudeness to the media members at Richmond, most notably tearing up Jenna Fryer's transcript during the media session following the Richmond race, as if Jenna hadn't put up with enough after being insulted by Tony Stewart earlier that day, where he had multiple incidents with Jimmie Johnson, set for his departure at Penske. I heard rumors that Shell and Penzoil said they would pull all sponsorship if Kurt remained at Penske, not just in NASCAR either, that included IndyCar. So Kurt and Penske had a "mutual" agreement to part ways at the end of the year. Kurt would be replaced by AJ Allmendinger in the 22 car.
"Now let's not be TOO hard on Kurt. He had a bad divorce with his ex-wife Eva, somewhere along the way, and no doubt it affected him in a bad way. Im' not making excuses for the man, he obviously would not like me to do that if I knew him, no one would. But cut the guy some slack! How would you do in this situation?
Kurt's incidents with Jimmie Johnson this season, as it has gone on since 2008. I don't expect that to continue in 2012, because of where he is at. I could be wrong though. But to place 100% of the blame on either driver is inappropriate. I seem to remember last year at Pocono where Jimmie Johnson got into the back of Busch, sending Busch sliding in the grass destroying his car. It wasn't intentional by Jimmie at all, but I would not blame him if he might have been mad either. A wreck is a wreck, accidental or intentional. However, Kurt, as he always does overreacted in the wrong way, most recently at Richmond where both drivers had a wreck fest, which Jimmie got the worst of by the way. I don't expect that to be much of a problem this year as Kurt will have Hendrick engines while driving for a "lesser" team.
Kurt will certainly have time to recover from his bittersweet 2011, while just having fun. He announced that he would continue to drive for points in the Cup series but try to have fun and run the best he can. Kurt's going to make positive changes from this. I believe that both Busch's will learn from each other's mistakes. Kurt will drive for James Finch's Phoenix Racing, in the #51 Chevy. James said he wont fire Kurt and Kurt won't quit. He wont take any crap form him either. Kurt will indeed have fun in the 51 this year, as he might be able to win back the respect he lost from the sponsors and land a better Cup ride for '13. Kurt will also drive the #1 Phoenix Chevy Nwide car in the races that he is not racing in the #54 KBM Toyota(most likely the Daytona race), shared with Kyle Busch. Kurt will definitely be winning some Nationwide races driving for his brother. Both Busch's are optimistic about this new adventure together. Both Busch's pledged to work together in the Daytona races in February to try and win the Great American Race and the Nationwide version as well.
Needless to say both Brothers will be looking for redemption in 2012, especially in the Chase where both finished 11th and 12th after a bad last half of the Chase. Kyle especially needs a good run to happen this year in the Chase because of his Chase struggles thus far in his career. I look for both Busches to be better behaved in 2012, plus having more fun while doing it.
-Newt
The opinion in this blog is based on the writer.
