Oh, Kyle

Reading through some of the articles about Kyle Busch’s incident on the track, I ran across this on the NASCAR site…

Busch can be an engaging personality. He has worked hard to improve his image as one of racing's bad boys. But it's like he's an addict in the worst way. He can go days, weeks and sometimes even months without blowing up or doing something stupid -- and then blow all that good work in a split second of anger-infused idiocy.

And now after going on nine months of mostly good behavior on the track and at least improved behavior most of the time off it [despite getting caught speeding at 128 miles per hour on a public road last May], Busch destroyed 33-plus weeks of mainly good work in a split second of anger-induced, misguided, knee-jerk stupidity.

Busch has as much driving talent as anyone in NASCAR -- more, in fact, than most. But at the rate he's going, you have to wonder if he might already have made too many enemies to ever hold it together long enough to win a Cup championship. And as he sits out Sunday's race, he can take a long look at his current worst enemy by simply looking in the mirror.

Hmm. Where have I heard some of these lines before? Perhaps Kyle and I aren’t as different as I thought.

I have no fear that Kyle will come out of this with a different outlook. That’s the easy part. It’s keeping with the good that is difficult. Keeping your cool when things go bad. It’s way harder for some than others, and I totally get it. It doesn’t excuse the behavior, but there are a lot of people that can relate.

I don’t believe he’ll lose fans over this. Kyle Busch fans are pretty devoted to him and his “Rowdy” behavior. You just kind of accept him for what he is when you decided to make him your favorite driver. All of him. His whole package. And if that package comes with frequent trips to the NASCAR hauler, then so be it. I’ll be right there with him (not literally, obviously) to kick his ass for being a dumbass. But I’ll be there. Cause I like him. I like him a lot!