It was 2008 at Richmond Raceway when, with three laps from the finish, Kyle Busch dumped Dale Earnhardt Jr. into the wall. That move made the entire “Junior Nation” come after him. In fact, he needed a police escort just to get off the hook. Busch didn’t forget that incident, and when Dale Earnhardt Jr., a year later, was in the worst stretch of his career, he decided to mock him. “It’s never Junior. It’s always the crew chief.” Little did he know that years later, life would put him in Dale Earnhardt Jr shoes.

Fast forward to today, and all that swagger and results are simply gone. And the crew chiefs Busch mocked, well, he has gone through multiple of them. He parted ways with crew chief Randel Brunett mid-season last year, with Andy Street being appointed as interim crew chief, and now Jim Pohlman is calling the shots at the top of the No. 8 pit box. And finally, 17 years later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided to take out his claw too, right when Busch was at his lowest.

“I’ll be honest, a long time ago, there was a bit of a spat between me and him that was kind of ongoing. I was struggling with Lance, and we were between crew chiefs. And he said to the media, ‘It’s never the crew chief’s fault,’ or ‘It’s never Dale’s fault.’ It’s always the crew chief. It’s never Dale’s fault, is it?’ You know, it’s a really shitty thing, and I mean, it’s kind of what he’s dealing with now. It’s very similar. He’s in a bad spot. He’s in a car that isn’t going. His teammate is doing better, getting the better results.” This is payback!

However, being confrontational is nothing new for Busch. His 2017 Vegas brawl with Joey Logano that left him bloodied or the 2024 All-Star scuffle where he took a right hook to his face—it’s now part of his persona. Nevertheless, he sure was spooked by the incident with Junior, which he did confess to.

“There were death threats to the house. As soon as I did the victory lane stuff, they corralled me and got me and took me into a cop car and took me out of the race track in a cop car,” Busch added. Now if you ask his fans, though, they might point out that the rivalry between the two players didn’t start in 2008 but a year prior. That Dale Jr. had spearheaded the rivalry.

During the 2007 Kansas race, Busch, who was in contention for the Chase, got wrecked by Dale Jr. That was not it. The history book would show you that Jr. joined HMS in 2008, but his first start came with the No. 5 car, the one that Busch drove at Texas. It was a short stint and came after Busch left his ride following a crash. So there’s plenty of history between the two, especially once they traded seats to different teams in 2008. However, unlike Busch, who mostly blames RCR and the Next Gen car, Jr. took full accountability even when things were against him in 2009.

“I feel bad for Tony Jr. [Eury] because he gets criticized so badly. You know how smart a guy he is. Truly know that he is a good mechanic and a solid crew chief. He just wanted to do this for a living, just like I do, but I’ll take the fall. I would rather be crucified than him.”

Still, Junior knows better than just think about payback. The main thing in question is what happens next. And he makes one major prediction for Busch.

Earnhardt Jr. makes major prediction for Busch’s future away from RCR

Speaking on his podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr. expressed ‘a weird feeling’ regarding Kyle Busch ending up at Spire Motorsports sooner than later. “They would probably absolutely take him. I could see him getting over there. I believe it happens, and it could be next year. He’s not got a long-term deal at RCR that I know of. That is the story moving forward. And I believe that’s what happens in the summer,” Earnhardt claimed.

He mentioned that before his days in NASCAR are done, Kyle Busch would get in a competitive car once again and prove that he’s still the guy who has all the major records and wins to his name.

Moreover, Dale Jr. claimed that Spire is also a team that could satisfy Busch’s financial demands. Currently, he’s the highest-paid driver in Cup with a reported salary of close to $16M. Earnhardt believed Spire is the place Busch could land the contract he’s looking for, along with having a relatively fast car.

After all, Spire has already had four top 5s and three top 10s between the #7, the #71, and the #77 car this season. Earnhardt believed going to Spire would give Busch the opportunities to win again while also being able to race in the Truck Series as well.

So it’ll be interesting to see if Dale Jr.’s prediction about Busch’s future comes true this summer. Either way, it is clear that, unlike Kyle Busch, Dale Jr. is being quite graceful about handling the #8 driver’s ongoing rough phase, something Busch didn’t do back in 2009 for Earnhardt Jr.