Kyle Busch was once the second-choice driver for Joe Gibbs Racing behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. However, instead of feeling discouraged, the now 40-year-old said he found motivation to win races for his haters, some of whom allegedly belonged to Dale Jr.’s fan base.
Before the 2008 NASCAR season, Joe Gibbs Racing had Dale Earnhardt Jr. as its frontrunner for the #18 Toyota. But since the driver replaced Kyle Busch at Hendrick Motorsports, the team opted for the Las Vegas native instead. As Busch started winning more races, he had more haters, though he used them to his advantage.
Speaking about his approach to haters, the then #18 JGR driver said (via NASCAR):
“I think it was just through the theatrics of after races and a guy who liked to play with the haters, if you will.”
“The haters are motivators. So when you’re able to go out and win… and win a lot… you have this step. You have this character that you can play into and you can talk all the smack you wanna talk. And sometimes, that was to the haters. There was a lot of those back then and they didn’t really like those very much,” he added.
Kyle Busch may have dealt with haters, but he had support from his fan base, the Rowdy Nation. Rowdy is a persona the driver embraced, referencing the fictional racer Rowdy Burns from the 1990 film, Days of Thunder.
“But when you had Rowdy Nation as your footprint and your backbone to be able to go out there and water-cooler talk on Mondays, they were able to go to bat for you,” he concluded.
During his stint at JGR from 2008 to 2022, Busch won 56 times, including multiple crown jewel races except for the Daytona 500. He also won two Cup Series championships in 2015 and 2019, beating former rival Dale Earnhardt Jr. on paper.
In 2023, ‘Rowdy’ left JGR to sign with Richard Childress Racing and drive the #8 Chevrolet Camaro. Unfortunately, he had only won thrice, with the 2024 season witnessing the end of his 19-year streak of winning at least one race in a year.
“It’s his fans that are crazy”: When Kyle Busch took a shot at Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s supporters
Kyle Busch once taunted Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s fan following a controversial post-race celebration at Nashville Superspeedway in 2009. After smashing the trophy guitar, he argued that the only people who hated the celebration were the ones with the “88” or “8” tattooed on them.
For context, Dale Jr. debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in the #8 Chevrolet for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI). He then took over Busch’s seat at Hendrick Motorsports and drove the #88 Chevy.
In a press conference in Michigan, the former Joe Gibbs Racing driver said (via imoon001 on YouTube):
“A lot of people enjoyed it… thought it was different… sports not-so vanilla. A lot of people hated it. I guess those are the ones with 88s tattooed on their arm. Or maybe still 8s. I don’t know which.” [0:25 onwards]
Busch then clarified he had no issues with Earnhardt Jr., saying:
“I ain’t got no issues with Junior. It’s his fans that are crazy. But that’s alright.”
With Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the Most Popular Driver award 15 times, the then #88 HMS driver arguably had the biggest fan base during his NASCAR days. Chase Elliott has succeeded Dale Jr. after the latter retired in 2017.
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Edited by Riddhiman Sarkar
