“Just Here So I Don’t Get Fined”: When Kyle Busch Was Fuming in His Post-Race Chat at Las Vegas

Back in September 2019, Kyle Busch was on course for a decent finish at the Las Vegas Speedway. Unfortunately, lapped drivers, Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley happened to get in his way. As a result, he could only muster 19th place for his efforts and was left fuming.

When he spoke to Fox NASCAR after the race, most of his answers were very curt. He declared that he was not happy about sustaining damage early in the race. It got to a stage where he actually said, “I’m just here so I don’t get fined.”

Overall, his mood had taken a massive hit, and he did not have any high hopes for the next race at Richmond. Then he simply got fed up and turned away, saying, “I’m answering dumb*** s*** questions over and over again.”

Finally, he just walked away and ignored the rest of the media.

Was Kyle Busch justified?

To make matters worse for him and contributing to his foul mood was the fact that the Vegas race kicked off the Playoffs. Naturally, a 19th place finish put him at a massive disadvantage in the playoff race.

When he eventually calmed down, he revealed that he thought that the backmarker was going high. Unfortunately, the driver ended up going down the middle. That driver formed a blockade, and Busch was caught in the crossfire.

Kyle Busch insisted that without those hiccups, he could have run fourth, but wound up all the way in 19th. He said, “We’re the top echelon of motorsports and we’ve got guys that have never won Late Model races running out here on the race track.

“It’s pathetic. They don’t know where to go. So, what else do you do?”

Smithley admitted that he could have done better to avoid contact with the #18 car. However, Gase felt that he did nothing wrong and that Busch was at fault for rear-ending him.