What’s a Busch without a temper?
It’s probably seemed like I’ve been fixated on the Busch brothers—Kurt and Kyle—in this blog spot recently, but really, I’m not, really. Like the Jeremy Mayfield meth soap opera that just won’t seem to die, the behavior and antics of Kurt and Kyle Busch are like the gift that just keeps on giving, story-wise.
Story was, a few years ago, the Busch siblings went months without speaking to each other until their grandmother told them that they weren’t going to ruin family Thanksgiving dinner for her. That seemed to straighten them out, at least temporarily and when it came to issues just between them.
A few years ago, maybe around the time he was fired by Jack Roush and then picked up by Roger Penske, older brother Kurt seemed to settle down just a little bit. He did also get married around that time, but that marriage ended either late last year or sometime this year. So maybe married life kept him calm while it lasted. I don’t know.
Whatever the issue, Kurt seemed to spend a lot of time flying off the handle, with that anger often directed toward his team via in-race radio communications in 2011. Actually, it seemed like he sometimes would just spout off at anyone who was convenient.
Enter Kyle. Fans witnessed Kyle losing his temper early and often. But things were supposed to be different in 2011. This year was supposed to be the year of the kinder, gentler Kyle Busch. Like his brother before him, Kyle got married prior to the start of the 2011 season. Maybe marriage is the key to settling a racing Busch down. After all, for most of the year, he did seem more calm—at least by Kyle Busch standards.
But that all changed at Texas Motor Speedway in November when Kyle felt he had been wronged by Ron Hornaday during a Camping World Truck Series race. Against the urging of his spotter to not take action, Kyle retaliated, taking out Truck Series title contender Hornaday.
As a result of his actions, Kyle was parked for the Nationwide and Sprint Cup series races at Texas, his Sprint Cup sponsor came off his car for the final races of the season, and his Nationwide sponsor asked for someone else to be put behind the wheel.
So maybe the calming marriage theory doesn’t always hold up. But that’s beside the point.
Kurt also snapped, so-to-speak, as the season drew to a close. The older Busch brother was caught on camera “flipping off” somebody in the garage after his No. 22 suffered a transmission failure that took him out of the race within the first 10 laps of the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. That was soon followed by a profanity-filled tirade directed toward a reporter.
The checkered flag that waved on the final race of the season wasn’t the figurative checkered flag on the fallout from Kurt’s tantrum, though. The following week, NASCAR fined him $50,000 and crew chief, Steve Addington, quit Penske Racing to head to the seemingly more peaceful waters of Stewart-Haas Racing.
About a decade ago, it would’ve seemed weird to refer to Tony Stewart’s locale as peaceful waters, but that’s another subject.
Then came Kurt’s firing from Penske Racing. At least temperamental brother Kyle still has his ride, at least for now. Of course, there are still rumors circulating that he could be close to a pink slip, himself.
Kurt is said to be going through some kind of anger management course. Whether or not it’ll work, time will tell.
At least for now, the Kurt and Kyle Busch we see today look to be pretty much the Kurt and Kyle Busch of old. Oh well, at least they don’t seem to be feuding with each other, so maybe grandma will still have a merry Christmas.
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