(photo courtesy Kyle Busch Motorsports)
The 2012 version of “The New Kyle Busch”
Kyle Busch has learned from the mistakes he made last season and he is ready to make a fresh go of it in 2012. Busch said during Monday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Media Tour he knows he can’t continue to display the kinds of emotional actions that led to so much controversy, and one might add, much more trouble last year. Therein lies the reason for the 2012 version of the old version of “The New Kyle Busch”!
“I’ve got fans all the time that tell me they don’t want to see me change,” Busch said. “I’ve tried to keep that, but ultimately, it’s not going to work. If you keep getting in trouble, you’re not going to be here very long. I’m trying to change something.”
Although Joe Gibbs Racing management hasn’t officially commented on Busch’s limited Nationwide Series schedule this season, which will see time spent in both a Kyle Busch Motorsports entry, as well as a JGR ride, but no truck series starts, it is speculated sponsor M&M’s also had a say in the decision. Busch insists he has support from his race team, sponsors and most importantly his family and friends that have helped him work through the situation and concentrate on moving ahead in his life both professionally and personally.
Are we ready for the Busch brothers teamed together?
Ol Kylie will team with his brother “Potty Mouth” Kurt at KBM this year in the Nationwide Series. “I was feeling pretty good about our ownership chances in Nationwide, that’s going to be hard to beat,” J.D. Gibbs said about the Busch brothers pairing.” Joe Gibbs said he wasn’t in the discussions of Kyle racing for his own team. “I will say that I was not in that meeting or we would not be doing this,” Gibbs said. “These two (Busch and J.D. Gibbs) got together and somehow we are now racing against him.”
As for the day when KBM might be elevated to a Sprint Cup operation, Busch sees it down the road because of all the current complications associated with such a move. “That’s obviously something I look forward to doing,” Busch said. “The Cup side is kind of difficult just due to the constrictions that NASCAR puts on all of us with me driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. Essentially I could have one team, but if JGR ever went to four teams I would have to shut mine down so that makes it tough.”
As long as ol Kylie drives for JGR, or for that matter any Sprint Cup team, bringing KBM to the Sprint Cup level would count against his owner towards the maximum of four race teams. Thereby, complicating the issue of elevating KBM to the Sprint Cup level while still driving for another race team.
Backed themselves into a corner
So for you die-hard Kylie fans who love “the bad boy image” of Kyle Busch, think about what just happened to his role model, big brother Kurt! Big brother was summarily fired from his second race team! Kurt did find employment with Phoenix Racing for 2012, not exactly a Roush-Fenway Racing or a Penske Racing caliber team.
It is my opinion that the Busch brothers are very edgy with their “us against the world”mentality. That attitude has caused both brothers some problems with their car owners and sponsors. Witness what happened to Kurt at the end of 2011, proof positive of the Busch attitude being problematic! Additionally, the JGR/M&M’s difficulty, M&M’s removing sponsorship from Kyle for the last two races of 2011, only goes to fortify the thought that “the bad boy” image can only go so far before that attitude categorizes you as a persona non grata in the sport!
What are your thoughts on the teaming of the Busch brothers at Kyle Busch Motorsports?
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
