Kyle Busch is always one of the most entertaining NASCAR drivers — or arguably even the most entertaining sometimes.
Because whether fans love him or love to hate him, they usually want to know what he has to say because of his humor, snark and bluntness, in addition to being one of the most talented drivers on the track. That’s why the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver’s in-race radio is often the best one to eavesdrop on.
It seems like Busch seldom masks what he’s thinking or feeling, and that leads to all kinds of blowups, trash-talking or tantrums, especially during races.
And on at least a couple occasions Sunday during the Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Busch’s home track, he delivered some spectacular quintessential Kyle Busch moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYLS9Yp1QWg
Overheard on the No. 18 team’s radio, via FOX Sports’ compilation of radio audio highlights, Busch blew up:
“Same old [expletive] [expletive] every [expletive] week, every [expletive] year! Same old [expletive]!”
And not long after, he followed up with:
“Plowing-ass [expletive] tight. Slow as [expletive] molasses!”
The two-time Cup Series champ has a couple other interesting moments in Sunday’s race, where he finished third, but those were the big ones.
For a little context here, Busch is coming off an uncharacteristic down season in 2020. He finished last year with just one win compared with five in 2019 (when he won his second title), eight in 2018 and five in 2017. And, now with a new crew chief in Ben Beshore, his third-place finish at Vegas on Sunday was his best through four races this season and was also his second top-10 finish.
But compared with his teammates, Busch isn’t having the dominant 2021 start he probably hoped for. His newest teammate, Christopher Bell, was a surprise winner on Daytona International Speedway’s road course race in February. Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. both have had strong openings, while Busch has yet to lead laps this season.
It also doesn’t help Busch that NASCAR has eliminated practice and qualifying sessions for most races this year to limit the amount of time teams are spending at the tracks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After coming in third at Vegas, Busch said in his post-race press conference:
I felt like [Sunday] was a good building process for us. I just always kept trying to give the best feedback I possibly could. Being able to tell him what the car was doing, where we were coming from with the adjustments we were making. [Beshore] was making good adjustments all day. Seemed like the first two or three of them really didn’t do anything. We started taking swings with wrenches in the back window, stuff like that. …
“Some of the teams that have had a rough start, like ourselves first few races being terrible. We kind of had a hole that we had to dig ourselves out of. We’ve been working on that each week, getting closer.”
Four races into the 2021 season, Busch is 14th in the driver standings. The next NASCAR Cup Series race is Sunday at Phoenix Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX).
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