It has been years since Kyle Busch climbed down from his peak, but even now, he hasn’t given up on his ‘rowdy’ personality. While he might not be winning races anymore, Busch makes sure that he remains in the highlights in one way or another, but it can sometimes be a bit too controversial, as was noticed earlier at the Bristol Motor Speedway. His incident with Riley Herbst may have made the latter spin, but it caught enough friction to put insiders in a tough debate.

Kyle Busch’s Bristol move: racing or retaliation?

“Is that fair game what Kyle Busch did there?” was the question posed by Jeff Gluck. “We talk about intention wrecking, I mean, that caused a potentially race-altering caution. Now he did get turned by Riley Herbst early in the race, so I guess he can go back and do that.”

On lap 315 at Bristol, Herbst made light contact with Busch coming out of a corner, spinning him out. This triggered a chain reaction, and three other cars, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones, and Carson Hocevar, were affected in the wreck.

Kyle Busch managed to keep going and managed to get right behind Herbst’s car, and spun him out, triggering the final caution of the race. This was seemingly a move made out of retaliation. This added more drama to the race, and while Bianchi does find it acceptable, he is a little questioned about the aftermath of the incident.

“This is the problem. This is where the gray area is. You want the rough and tumble. You want the eye for the eye[…]But, you’re going to have moments like this. And so, where is that line?” Insider Jordan Bianchi said.

Busch’s actions led to many fans criticizing him as they felt there was no need for the veteran to do something like that.

“I honestly don’t have an issue with what Kyle Busch did because that’s part of the ethos that NASCAR is. But, to your point, the ramifications from that are pretty significant. I don’t know how you police that,” he added.

Although the spin didn’t end the race for Riley Herbst, it interrupted the final few laps as the race was thrown into overtime. Ty Gibbs had already been leading, but his very first Cup win was threatened as he had to battle it out with Ryan Blaney on the final restart. Yet, he managed to win.

As for Busch, he finished out of the top 20 for the fourth consecutive round. As it seems right now, the middle of the pack has become home for the two-time Cup champion. While many have been waiting for his comeback now, it might be more distant than it has ever been, as a fellow driver now predicts.

Denny Hamlin on Busch’s comeback

Hamlin has been around the sport for a long time to understand comeback stories, but he doesn’t see that happening with Busch anytime soon. “If you’re expecting Kyle Busch to just go back to Victory Lane, you’re going to be very disappointed,” he said, speaking on the Actions Detrimental podcast.

However, what he comments is coming from a surface-level observation, as Hamlin confirmed: “I’m not in his shoes. I’m not his crew chief, his engineer, or his team owner. I’m just a podcaster who happens to be on the racetrack around him, and I can say it’s not working. I don’t have the answers, and I think we have to live in this reality for the time being.”

Kyle Busch was still competitive shortly after moving to Richard Childress Racing. He won three races early in the 2023 season, but has been waiting to add a fourth with the team ever since. As the seasons have passed, it currently seems that the #8 team has only lost overall competitiveness.

Despite clinching pole position for the Daytona 500, Busch only finished 15th, not far from the 12th-place finish he had at COTA, which so far remains his best result of the season. So far, it is quite hard to say if he will get back to winning ways, considering how the team has performed in recent races. While his Rowdy personality is what made a lot of fans fall in love with his racing, Busch will also be hoping to get the race wins that his former self was accustomed to.