Kyle Busch is racing against time as he strives to break his 26-race winless streak this year. He had pinned his hopes to a top-five finish at the just concluded race at Circuit of The Americas. Busch ran inside the top 10 for a major chunk until a hit on lap 40 dashed his hopes. Christopher Bell was the culprit behind that.
Bell had tasted victory just two weeks back and was evidently not satiated. He wielded his No. 20 JGR Toyota and knocked away Busch and Kyle Larson in his quest for the lead. Ultimately, he ended up giving a tough fight to William Byron for the win in the end. But Busch made sure to dampen his spirits after his impressive second-place finish.
Kyle Busch bares his teeth at Bell for his on-track aggression
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Busch has reminded his fellow drivers time and again to take him seriously. If they ruffle his feathers, they are in for a ‘rowdy’ treat. That is the approach Kyle Busch took to react to Christopher Bell’s aggressive tactics at COTA. Bell nearly pulled off a second-season win before Byron outwitted him by a meager 0.692 seconds.
But Busch was there to remind him there’s more to be worried about than a close shave with victory. Media people crowded around Kyle Busch as he strutted towards Bell’s car, with a terrifying look in his eyes. He faced Bell and initially uttered some words which the microphones could not catch.
But then he was audible: “Have I ever wrecked you?” Bell calmly replied, “No”. Then Kyle Busch said fiercely, in no less than a Terminator vibe: “Okay it’s f*cking coming”. Christopher Bell attempted to shake his hand, but Busch dramatically declined the peace offer.
An alternate angle of the post-race conversation between @KyleBusch and @CBellRacing. pic.twitter.com/f9nE8nb7AB
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 24, 2024
Although Christopher Bell’s calm demeanor is laudable, he had also irked a Hendrick driver at the COTA race. On lap 22, Bell spun Kyle Larson, who was also battling hard for a top-five place. In response to both Busch and Larson’s wreck, Bell gave a diplomatic response for his antics.
“I mean, yeah, obviously he’s very upset,” Bell said of Busch. “Which, you know, he ended up turned around. First off, I’m sorry to Larson and the 5 car, I got him early in the race by no intention at all. I didn’t mean to do that. [Busch] is so frustrated by what happened in Turn 1, and I don’t know. They were two-wide going in there. I haven’t obviously seen a replay yet, I had no intentions of turning him. I’m sure we’ll talk it out before the next race.”
Kyle Busch is obviously not going to talk it out just like that. He has brought up issues of disrespect previously as well. Although the selling of KBM to Spire Motorsports brought Kyle millions of dollars, he was happy with the change. One foremost reason was how disrespectfully drivers race, especially in last year’s Craftsman Truck finale at Phoenix.
Busch has also locked horns with a Team Penske driver earlier.
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Busch called Penske driver ‘two-faced’
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One of the most iconic NASCAR scuffles is Kyle Busch offering his fists to Joey Logano in 2017. However, their bitter relationship extended far longer than that time. At the Busch Light Clash in 2023, the Team Penske driver sent Busch careening in lap 86 and brought one of the many caution flags of the day.
Later, Kyle Busch fumed about his encounter. “It’s really unfortunate to get raced by guys that are so two-faced,” detailed Busch. “We were in the TV booth earlier in the night together, and when we were all done with that, he was like, ‘Hey man, good luck tonight,’ and I said, ‘Great, thanks, yeah. Whatever.’ And then, low and behold, there you go, he wrecks me.”
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Although Bell was the culprit, Kyle Busch is adding fuel to his reputation as a true ‘Rowdy’ driver. Let us see if his fiery spirit can bring a much-awaited win this season soon.