NASCAR enforces rigid rules for racing on the tracks. With elaborate inspections conducted both pre-, mid-, and post-race, drivers are under a strict scanner at all times. And that inevitably extends to driver etiquette: engaging in any form of intoxication is an offense.

Yet the situation was different for veteran racers. Dale Earnhardt Jr used to unwind with booze and smoke before a hectic race weekend. Even the very first pioneers of NASCAR were known to be moonshine bootleggers. On that note, let’s dive into a logical argument that Kyle Busch presented to defend that badass era.

Kyle Busch finds health regimes pointless for races

Before Dale Earnhardt Jr carved a place for himself as a favorite racer, he had some vices. Recently on his podcast, he recollected how the Hendrick team pressurized Dale to be more like health freak Jimmie Johnson. The seven-time Cup champ grew up swimming and racing Motocross and his squeaky-clean health regime stemmed from there.

But Dale Jr partied hard, guzzling alcohol and smoking cigarettes, and yet salvaged top finishes. That is why he said, “Maybe I’m just one of the old guards man. I need to drink and smoke cigarettes and go kick ass.”

Kyle Busch addressed this topic recently on The Pat McAfee Show on a sad note. “Jimmie ruined it for a lot of us. Dale isn’t the only one that had the Jimmie Johnson factor, that came upon him. For me too, I got yelled at from a crew chief. I was getting a little chunky, a little heavy and all that. He was like, ‘You need to work out. You need to eat better. You need to sleep a little more.’ I was like, ‘Okay, sure great. Whatever.’”

Then Kyle Busch justified focusing on his racing priorities rather than working out. “So I spent six months in the gym, working out, slimmed down, lost some pounds, and what not. The results didn’t change. Nothing happened. It’s all about the horse you’re riding, it’s all about the car you got. So there’s another driver out there. He said you can’t drive a slow car fast. I mean, that’s the truth of the matter. And Jimmie was always in a fast car but he also had everything right and was going the right way about it.”

Hence Jimmie Johnson’s perfect lifestyle was hard to replicate. But Kyle Busch further strove to cement his argument, as he took the example of a racing legend, Dick Trickle.

The late veteran made a cult of the race car smoking

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Dick Trickle led a long 40 decades in a happening motorsport career. The 1989 Rookie of the Year in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series had won 1000+ short-track races. But besides a glittering racing career, Trickle also made headlines in the 1990 Winston 500 for smoking a cigarette while racing. 

And of course, Kyle Busch hailed this badass legend to support his and Dale Jr’s argument. “He would show up to the race track with a Coors Light in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. They wouldn’t let him in the car with the Coors Light, but they let him in the car with a cigarette. He had’em taped to his roll bar and had an open-face helmet. So while the race is happening, he would just reach over there, grab a cigarette, light it up and he’d be smoking under yellow.”

Yet gone are those days of Trickle, as the closest NASCAR comes to alcohol these days is in the ethanol filling up gas tanks.