Tag: NASCAR Fights

Kyle Busch’s signing bonus from Richard Childress was a hilarious reference to his new boss once punching him

Of course, NASCAR fans loved this joke.

Welcome to FTW’s NASCAR Feud of the Week, where we provide a detailed breakdown of the latest absurd, funny and sometimes legitimate controversies and issues within the racing world.

Our latest NASCAR Feud of the Week is actually a throwback to an 11-year-old incident that came full circle this week, ending with a fabulous joke.

Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch will have a new team and new ride beginning in the 2023 season, and, of course, that also means he’ll have a new boss. Busch announced Tuesday that he’s leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after 15 seasons with the powerhouse team to join Richard Childress Racing.

“I’m excited to announce that I’ll be taking my talents to Welcome, North Carolina to drive the No. 8 car for Richard Childress Racing starting in 2023,” 37-year-old Busch said in a statement reminiscent of LeBron James in 2010.

So instead of Joe Gibbs, he’ll be reporting to Richard Childress — an interesting pair if you know you’re NASCAR history.

Basically, in what’s now known as the “hold my watch” incident, then-65-year-old Childress and then-26-year-old Busch tangled after a Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway in 2011. Now, Busch is no stranger to (sometimes physical) altercations in NASCAR, but in this instance, he wasn’t really the instigator.

A refresher on what happened, via The Athletic:

After a 2011 NASCAR Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway, team owner Richard Childress was livid over how Kyle Busch had made contact with Joey Coulter — who was then driving a Richard Childress Racing entry.

Childress infamously told grandson Austin Dillon to “Hold my watch,” because you wouldn’t want to mess up a nice timepiece in a fight. Then, according to witnesses, the much older man proceeded to place Busch into a headlock and punch him in the head several times before Busch fell to the ground. Childress was later fined $150,000 by NASCAR.

Fast forward 11 years later, and Busch and Childress are now on the same team and will be indefinitely, as the current No. 18 Toyota driver said it’s a multiyear deal.

During Busch’s announcement Tuesday at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, Childress even had a little fun over their shared history. After Busch shared his plans for next season and beyond, Childress joined him on stage and with a gift for his new driver.

“Well, you know, Kyle, the other week when we signed our contract, there was something I forgot to give you,” Childress said. “It was your signing bonus, so I’ve gotta give you your signing bonus.

“Will you hold my watch?” he asked, handing Busch a Rolex box.

“Absolutely,” Busch responded.

“That’s all we’re gonna talk about that,” Childress added. “That’s history.”

Clearly, Busch and Childress have moved far beyond the “hold my watch” incident more than a decade ago, and they made that clear recently, as uncertainty and speculation about Busch’s future was really heating up.

Saturday at Kansas, Busch also made a joke about their history. He said, via FOX Sports:

“Who is to say he hasn’t punched me again in any of these conversations?” he said. “Whenever you go into negotiations, it’s never fun, so you’re duking the whole time.

“You grow up, and you work through things. It was fine the first time I sat down with him.”

That’s a nice-looking signing bonus…

Joey Logano says Ty Gibbs throwing punches after NASCAR race was ‘not the right direction’

“I don’t know if he had to go straight to fists right off the bat.”

Quite often, NASCAR drivers are furious with each other. Sometimes, that leads to heated confrontations after the race, revenge on the track at a later race and, occasionally, some thrown punches.

Joey Logano, now in his 14th full-time Cup Series season, has been in those types of situations in the past, and he said he can relate to what second-tier Xfinity Series driver Ty Gibbs was feeling when he punched Sam Mayer multiple times after Friday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

Despite joking that he “shouldn’t be commenting on this” because he’s not picking sides, Logano did offer his perspective on the race and altercation. The Cup veteran had no issues with the racing, but the fight is a different situation.

“I wouldn’t say what happened on the race track was wrong, but I’d say what happened after was probably not the right direction,” Logano said Monday.

Logano began his full-time Cup career at 18 competing for Joe Gibbs Racing, was aggressive on the track and has had his fair share of altercations over the years. Nineteen-year-old Gibbs — the grandson of legendary NASCAR owner Joe Gibbs for whom he currently races — is a talented and somewhat similarly aggressive driver whose star is rapidly rising with seven checkered flags in 26 Xfinity starts, including three already in 2022.

Gibbs looked poised to grab his fourth win of the season at Martinsville with a dominating performance that had him out front for 197 of 261 total laps. On the last lap, he lost the lead but still had a chance to win $100,000, depending on his finish, with NASCAR’s Dash 4 Cash bonus.

Mayer was also in the running for the 100 grand, and after Gibbs got shuffled back from the lead, Mayer pushed Gibbs up the track and out of the way. Mayer finished fifth, Gibbs was eighth and neither won the Dash 4 Cash (A.J. Allmendinger in third place did).

On pit road afterward, Gibbs shoved Mayer as Mayer took his helmet off, Mayer eventually shoved him back and Gibbs ended up punching his rival multiple times.

“I have a lot more grace for seeing that stuff after going through it myself,” Logano about the bump on the track as well as the fight. “Do I agree with the way it went down? No, I don’t. Have I done that type of thing before? Yeah, I have. Am I proud of it? No, not at all, but I learned from it, at least.

“And it’s part of growing up on TV. You’re growing up in a limelight, right? [He’s] a very popular driver, he’s very good, he wins, he’s in a great car and he’s pretty dang aggressive. And I can relate to all that. … So, I guess, taking a deep breath and understanding the big picture and handling things correctly is probably the way to go.”

But, Logano said, he’s “learned a lot” since his early days racing in NASCAR and noted that Gibbs throwing punches wasn’t the right way to address his on-track frustration.

The 2018 Cup champion also reiterated the common NASCAR mentality that drivers should expect to get raced the way they race others. So when Gibbs has previously bumped other drivers out of the way — like he did to his teammate, John Hunter Nemechek, at Richmond Raceway earlier this month before taking the checkered flag — he can’t be surprised that when he gets a taste of his own racing style.

“I don’t know if he had to go straight to fists right off the bat, but for what it was, if you’re gonna race a certain way, you gotta expect to be raced that way back,” Logano said. “That’s the driver code, and nobody can understand — that’s it. If you’re willing to push, you gotta be willing to take some pushes. And that’s kind of what it comes down to. …

“If you’re willing to push for a win, and someone’s willing to push for 100 grand behind you, one for the other at that point.”

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