Recapping Kyle Busch's pit road meltdown at Bristol
It has been a trying month for Kyle Busch. In his last three races coming into Saturday night’s Bristol race, Busch has finished 42nd (Pocono), 40th (Watkins Glen) and 39th (Michigan). Unfortunately his run of bad luck didn’t improve at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing the race in 36th.
Busch is usually a heavy favorite at Bristol. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver qualified 4th, putting him at the front of the field for the annual August Saturday night race.
He led some laps in the early stages of the race, but on Lap 125, Clint Bowyer got into his rear bumper, sending the No. 18 car spinning down to the front stretch apron, suffering rear end damage.
But it was late in the race that all hell broke loose between Busch and his No. 18 team.
With about 50 laps to go, Busch reported in to crew chief Dave Rogers that the right suspension was broken. Clearly frustrated with his car, and his recent string of less than desirable finishes, the frustration began to set in.
“You didn’t fix the problem!” Busch told Rogers. “The suspension is broke!” There was no response on the other end of Busch’s channel.
“Did anyone not f-cking hear me?” a frustrated Busch asked again. “I need a whole new right front suspension. A whole new right front suspension! I will be behind the wall in about 2 f-cking laps!”
(Apologies for the quality, but YouTube user ETSWWENASCAR uploaded some audio of Kyle and Kurt Busch's radio from Saturday night's race):
Rogers told Busch that there was nothing they could do about a broken suspension, especially with 50 laps to go at a short track like Bristol. Rogers instructed his driver to bring the car to the hauler, but Busch disobeyed, staying out on the track and continuing to run in the race. Rogers then became furious.
“Park it behind the truck and take your whiny little ass to the bus!” he told Busch.
Listened to this 3X to ensure I heard right. Dave Rogers to Kyle Busch: "Park it behind the truck and take your whiny little ass to the bus"
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 24, 2014
Busch then parked his car on pit road (under green flag racing), left it there, and then exited the car, leaving his crew to push the damaged car back to the hauler.
Rogers, and team owner Joe Gibbs both spoke with NASCAR.com’s Kenny Bruce following the race, not seeming to think it was a big deal.
"If Kyle Busch wasn't passionate, I probably wouldn't work for him," Rogers told Bruce. "And if I wasn't passionate, Kyle Busch probably wouldn't want me as his crew chief. You've got two passionate people that want to win more than anything. And sometimes that passion gets the best of you. Tonight's that night. Kyle and I are fine. He's still my buddy, I love him to death and I'm very confident he'd tell you the same about me.
"That's just pro sports," Gibbs said about the incident. "Every now and then you get frustrated.
"I think the night was totally frustrating. (Kyle) had a great car and it was a series of circumstances. Something like that happens in pro sports you can get frustrated."