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Kyle Busch Blames Brother Kurt for NASCAR World’s Quintessential Hatred for Him

Published 04/11/2024, 3:27 PM EDT

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Being a NASCAR driver is a tough job. While there is pressure to deliver every weekend, the drivers also have to deal with the fans. Not every driver is lucky to be in the good books of race fans. Some are outrightly hated, and so was the case with Kyle Busch. Ever since he set foot in NASCAR, he has always been welcomed with jeers and boos. Yes, even before he had his first confrontation or on-track incident.

Luckily, having jumped ships from Joe Gibbs Racing to RCR, he now lives a more peaceful life. But no one knew why he got the hate right from his early days of racing in NASCAR. According to the RCR star, it was the reputation of his brother Kurt Busch that saw him receive such hostile treatment.

Kurt Busch is responsible for his brother’s tag as Rowdy in NASCAR

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Well before Rowdy started throwing punches at his rivals on the pit road, his brother Kurt Busch had a similar reputation. However, during Kyle’s initial days of racing, no one knew him but judged him based on his brother’s personality traits. There was nothing he could do about it.

Sharing how Kurt’s influence garnered him the tag of NASCAR’s villain, the RCR driver speaking with Kenny Wallace, said, “When I came back to NASCAR, I came back in the Xfinity Series to run a part-time schedule and I was in 87 Ditech car, and by then Kurt wasn’t necessarily making the best of friends on NASCAR level. So when I got to driver’s intros for my first Xfinity Series race, I got booed out of there, and I was like, what the heck, I didn’t do anything; it’s Kyle, not Kurt.”

However, he was glad to see his former teammate, Denny Hamlin, take up the role, ever since his move to RCR. “I applaud Denny for taking on the role, and it’s fun to see it from another side because I knew how to live it, and that’s the thing you just have to embrace it, roll with it and go with it, and take it on. You hate me because I’m a bada** and you’re just jealous.”

During the interview, Kyle Busch also mentioned that he misses winning races more often. Also, explaining how NASCAR’s new set of rules hampered his flow of churning out winning performances.

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Kyle Busch still not over NASCAR’s ruling of limited racing schedule in the Truck and Xfinity for Cup drivers

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It is a known fact that Rowdy is indeed the most decorated NASCAR Cup Series driver of this generation. While his winning catalog is indeed impressive in the premier division of stock car racing, he is more dominant in the other two series. He has 102 wins in the Xfinity Series, the most by any driver. Moreover, in the Truck Series, he has the most number of wins (63), despite running a limited schedule, thanks to NASCAR’s ruling.

Disappointed with the ruling, the 38-year-old went on to share, “That’s where the Kyle Busch rule came from because everybody hated it so bad that I was dipping into Trucks and Xfinity and winning all the time that now you’re limited to five starts out of the year. So it’s just tough to find that chemistry and that niche with those teams because you’re only there five times out of year so I feel like nowadays it’s kind of like nobody does it.”

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Kyle Busch has already bagged his first win of the season in the Truck Series. However, as far as his Cup Series campaign is concerned, he is yet to deliver a string of good results in his second season with RCR.

“We Fu**in Suck”: Frustrated Kyle Busch Couldn’t Bear Going ‘Backwards’ in Martinsville

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Written by:

Chintan Devgania

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Chintan Mahesh Devgania is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. As someone who likes to dive deep into the sport, he often takes up less explored topics to eventually see them make their way into top stories. His report on Toyota’s young recruit, Jade Avedisian, sharing her thoughts on Late Model Racing, was an example of that.
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Edited by:

Shreya Singh