“I’m no Kyle Larson,” said Kyle Busch after his rare dirt appearance at Merritt Speedway last year. While many would expect some intense rivalry to follow, especially after their collision in the Enjoy Illinois 300, that has not been the case. Instead, after Larson ended Busch’s race giving him his first DNF of the season that Sunday, the #8 driver said, “He has this knack of being able to make the car go,” refusing to fuel any rivalry. And now, once again, Busch has fanned the flames of bromance as he hailed Larson as a top dog in the sport after the latter’s Brickyard magic.

No bad blood between Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson despite regular on-track antics

In a recent chat with sports analyst Pat McAfee, Kyle Busch dove into his dismal luck and multiple crashes this season. He also offered his thoughts on Kyle Larson, a racing phenom now being praised as a generational talent, as mentioned by the host. Agreeing with this wider notion, Kyle Busch said on ‘The Pat McAfee Show, “Kyle (Larson) is probably one of the best that’s out there right now for sure.” And he didn’t stop there. Busch also said, “I love Kyle.”

Busch’s admiration for Larson was evident as he elaborated on Larson’s background. He noted how the Hendrick Motorsports superstar had started as a Sprint car racer, coming from the dirt track scene where he achieved significant success. Busch further elaborated that regardless of the challenges, Larson just continues to excel in dirt racing and frequently returns to win races between his NASCAR schedule.

Perhaps, the foundation in dirt racing has contributed to the No. 5 Chevrolet driver’s versatility and mastery that makes him a formidable opponent in various motorsport disciplines, whether it’s asphalt or a dirt road!

Kyle Busch had notably lost his playoff spot after he ended the race in the 35th position at the World Wide Technology Raceway- courtesy of Kyle Larson, as mentioned before. It was on the last lap of the second stage that Larson’s car went into a spin, sending Busch into the wall. While Busch’s race ended there and then, Larson went on to make his name into the top-10. This incident had visibly irked Rowdy, who did not hold back from pointing out where his on-track rival went wrong. He said, “It looked like (Larson) got loose down the front straightaway into Turn 1. He was on older tires and trying to get us for a spot. I’m not sure what that single point would mean for him, but it certainly hurt us a lot.”

However, it’s not every day you see drivers showing mutual respect, especially when rivalries are front and center. On the contrary, though, Busch didn’t mince his words when taking a bold, and rather brutal, dig at another one of his opponents, Corey LaJoie.

Busch refuses to bury the hatchet

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Who on earth would’ve thought that out of all the racers in NASCAR, it would be Corey LaJoie to garner Busch’s wrath? However, such has been the case ever since the two tangled at the Pocono Raceway.

While Busch was majorly silent about the incident in his post-race talks with the media, he decided to go all out in front of McAfee. “Cory tried to blame me twice, and then he changed his story,” he said, inducing fits of laughter from the host and other studio members, before concluding, “Anyways, I need to stop giving fame to those that don’t deserve it.”

Notably, LaJoie was running behind Kyle Busch on a restart when Busch tried to block him ahead of Turn 1 at Pocono. However, the Spire Motorsports driver retorted by clipping the #8 in the left rear, sending him spinning, and collecting Ricky Stenhouse Jr, AJ Allmendinger and several others in the process.

Later, in a now infamous post-race interview, the #7 had refused to take responsibility for the incident, too. “I think Kyle and I have been racing around each other long enough, we’re not going to be smashing into each other on purpose. We both are guys that feel like we belong – certainly him – but I’m not going to say sorry. I’m not sorry about it because that was the thing. And if the shoe was on the other foot, the exact same thing would have happened, and I think he would probably say that,” he said, before changing the narrative a while later.

On his podcast Stacking Pennis, LaJoie discussed the incident with a different tone: “As I tried to replay it back, and I wish I had done my interview with replays before I said anything because I didn’t know, I probably am more remorseful, is the right word, but I do feel bad even for Kyle.” He further added. apologetically, “I don’t want to end his day. Randall Burnett (No. 8 crew chief), we’re buddies, I don’t want to wreck anybody’s day.”

But this doesn’t mean Kyle Busch will be forgetting the wreck just yet. The veteran mentioned how LaJoie tried to reach out to him multiple times, while issuing a warning. “I didn’t even reach back out because he changed his story four times, so I’m like, you’re just a liar. You wrecked me. Like, I get it. It’s fine, whatever. Payback’s coming,” he said.

The 2024 season just got more interesting, don’t you think?