Dale Earnhardt Jr. takes strong stance on NASCAR's biggest troll
Kyle Busch is undeniably a great driver, as shown by his 43 wins and his 2015 Cup Series championship.
He’s also a love-him-or-hate-him guy who seems to relish annoying his rivals and their fans.
Busch demonstrated that after Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Fontana, where he led for 62 laps before finishing third.
Fans jumped on him on social media for apparently skipping TV interviews after losing to defending Cup Series champ Martin Truex Jr.
Busch explained what happened and then spent a long time mocking his critics on Twitter.
Wrong. If tv didn’t want to interview me after I won a race I could care less. I did my job. They just happen to b there in our celebration. U can continue to b your douchey self tho. Your “entitled” too. https://t.co/u2OFvQh03n
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) March 19, 2018
After a race or a game is over r u not supposed to walk off? Is your expectation for me to sit there and wait 365 days for the next event at that track? What about getting onto next week? https://t.co/0MjOmrxBjf
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) March 19, 2018
Keyboard warrior would b an awesome emoji. I still can’t believe that there isn’t a troll emoji. How is that not in this world yet? https://t.co/ISucNZtS6J
— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) March 19, 2018
Newly retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. weighed in on Busch’s antics — and some might be surprised by his stance.
Earnhardt defended Busch with a tweet Sunday and then elaborated on his views Tuesday on his “Dale Jr. Download” podcast.
“The one thing that I’ve learned over the last several years — even before I quit driving — was the sport needs people like Kyle,” Earnhardt said. “Even if you don’t like the guy, the sport needs all kinds of personalities, and we can’t have 40 heroes out there racing. We can’t have 40 Captain Americas out there competing against each other. You’ve got to have a Batman, you’ve got to have a Robin, you’ve got to have a Superman, you’ve got to have a Joker. You’ve got to have all of that to create storylines and create rivalries.”
He continued, “The Kyle Busch on social media after the race — giving the haters hell, talking smack — I wouldn’t want him to change. I think there will always be that little bit of him that gets under your skin a little bit, and that’s good.
“Like I said, we don’t need 40 Supermans and Batmans out there racing against each other. We’ve got to have different personalities, and we’ve got to have villains and black hats, and good guys and bad guys, and blue collar and white collar. We’ve got to have a lot of different styles and personalities out there — guys from all over the country with a little twist to each of one of them.
“And Kyle definitely brings that. The more we see that with social media and so forth, the better it is for the sport.”
Earnhardt also has a selfish reason to appreciate those antics: Busch makes his life easier as a rookie broadcaster with NBC.
“He brings so much to the table for reporters and for broadcasters,” Dale Jr. said. “He makes moments. … He creates content and things for us to talk about whether he’s winning, whether he’s frustrated over finishing second, whether he’s doing something goofy on social media, whatever it is.”
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