“I tried to force my hand to get to his outside…I don’t think anybody gives anybody anything anymore.” Kyle Busch grew a little desperate last weekend, as his reputation is at stake. Continuing a 20-year-long victory streak is no mean thing, and Busch has not been able to do that yet. But his adversary, Chase Briscoe, also had an objective—to score well in the playoffs, as Dale Earnahrdt Jr. argues.

And Junior’s wife, Amy, is on the same page about this. Despite Rowdy’s fame as one of NASCAR’s legendary drivers, his rivals are not going to concede space to him on the racetrack. That is precisely what Briscoe did, and Dale Jr. has no issue with that.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his better half oppose Kyle Busch

Holding 63 Cup Series wins across a star-studded career, Kyle Busch indeed rallies a lot of respect in the Cup garage. During the Southern 500, the Richard Childress Racing driver displayed signs of a true veteran. Despite running down Briscoe with fresh tires in the closing laps, he did not force the issue and became aggressive. But during the Hollywood Casino 400 race, Busch got a little impatient. With 32 laps to go, he ran the high line on Turns 1 and 2, but a tight squeeze by Chase Briscoe took away his car’s air.

As a result, Busch spun out and dropped to 7th. By the end, he could piece together a measly 19th-place finish. And Dale Earnhardt Jr. believes this was not Briscoe’s fault, as Kyle Busch is not in the playoffs. “Does Briscoe react differently if that’s a playoff driver? I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that Chase Briscoe did something wrong, because he didn’t. He just ran the line—he said, ‘I’mma run this line, and it’s your job to figure out how to get around it.’ Kyle got into the wall and wrecked out.” Gathering every point is positive for Briscoe, so his move was justified. Veteran racer Kevin Harvick also argued that Busch’s impatience got the better of him.

Even Amy, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s wife and a special guest on his podcast, sided with Briscoe. “This is the playoffs. And respect or not, you’re not battling for that and I am. So I’m not giving you the space.” 

While Dale Jr. agreed with Busch that NASCAR’s etiquette has changed, he has no issue with that. “I think we should all be glad that is the case. It would not be as exciting if there was a ton of give and take. We would have big chunks of these races where there was not much to talk about. That’s the way it was 20 years ago – I like the way it is today. I love the tenacity and mentality. We need them to be aggressive with each other…It’s a compelling moment in the race – an unfortunate one for Kyle.”

Contrary to Kyle Busch’s claims about more respect in the past, he himself got into a similar situation with Dale Earnhardt Jr.

When Busch spun out his rival

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As multiple drivers and experts in the sport have observed, Kyle Busch is not in his best form this year. Ranging from multiple DNFs to mechanical failures, Rowdy has been on an endless unlucky streak. Maybe that is the reason for his muck-up in Kansas, and not Chase Briscoe’s lack of respect. This stands even more to reason considering the fact that Busch was not a fan of respecting himself in the past. Back in 2008, he had a brush-up with none other than Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The rivalry spiced up even more as Busch was fresh off of Dale Jr.’s team, Hendrick Motorsports. Recalling the incident earlier this year, Dale Jr. said, “2008 Richmond. We’re racing for the lead. A couple — three laps to go. He got loose underneath me in (turn) three, and I spun. I had just moved to a team that he had just left. There was kind of a weird awkwardness amongst all that.” There was also another edge of bitterness to the rivalry. “I’d wrecked him at Kansas (the year before), so there were some things not good, and I wasn’t handling it good. He wasn’t handling it great. And we went back and forth in the media a bunch.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch made up their differences. However, this story clearly proves that Busch was not an active proponent of a give-and-take policy in racing. Let us see if he can overcome his rivals’ ambitions to finally pave his way to Victory Lane soon.