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A Long Season For Busch Haters

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

Updated: 07/06/2008 12:22 am

DAYTONA BEACH - After arriving at Daytona International Speedway, it took forever to find one.

It took miles of walking, from the backstretch to the frontstretch, stepping around Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart fans, and Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon fans, who had spent millions on shirts and hats in the name of their heroes - and not a penny on Kyle Busch, the brash talent atop the Sprint Cup standings.

Eureka! After an hour and 14 minutes, Stanley found his Livingston.

A Kyle Busch fan.

Actually, his name is Emanuel ("Like in the Bible") Runyon of Blackshear, Ga. Runyon, 34, drove down for the Coke Zero 400 in a two-car caravan. "Me and seven Earnhardt fans," Emanuel said. He smiled.

"We all need a bad boy."

A Bit Of A Rebel

Bad Boy was booed, heavily, when he was introduced before Saturday night's race. Fans have thrown cups at Kyle Busch's No. 18 car at other races, gosh, with beer still in them. Now that's hate.

"Whoever they're cheering for as far as their favorite driver is their opinion," Busch said this week.

Bad Boy is only 23 and is already in his fourth full season in Sprint Cup racing, Kyle Busch is atop the leader board. No one has run out front like him. He has already won six times.

Boo.

The problem is, the kid already has two strikes against him in the fans' eyes.

He's Kurt Busch's kid brother, and Kurt isn't exactly beloved. But he looks like a U.N. diplomat next to baby brother.

The second strike?

Kyle Busch drives a: Toyota. Naturally, this season he posted Toyota's first Sprint Cup win.

He has also won four times in the Nationwide Series and twice in the truck series. No matter what he rides, he rides right past you.

Or into you, if need be.

Other drivers don't like Bad Boy much, either.

Oh, they know he has talent, but it's a rebel talent. The kid has some A.J. Foyt and Cale Yarborough in him.

At Richmond, Busch and Earnhardt were battling for the lead, and Busch bumped Earnhardt and spun him out of contention. It was like running the Popemobile off the road. Earnhardt's army went ape.

"Whether it's fair or not, he is going to need some security," Earnhardt said after the race.

Just last week, Bad Boy, running hard, drove into Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove right back into Busch. Before Saturday night's race, Montoya explained the incident while on an infield stage doing a Q&A session for fans.

Take it away, Juan Pablo: "The caution comes and he turns right into me. I turned left into him and hit him harder."

The crowd roared.

Bad Boy.

But this season is sweet revenge for Kyle Busch, as if he's into that.

Consider that Hendrick Motorsports couldn't wait to dump Busch so it could pick up Dale Jr. for this season.

Busch was good at Hendrick (10th in points in 2006 and fifth in 2007) but too on the edge, too emotional, not like teammates Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Casey Mears.

So what happened? Busch went to Joe Gibbs Racing, where he has dominated in a car that J.J. Yeley drove to only one top-five finish the past two seasons.

Meanwhile, back at Hendrick, Mears hopped into Busch's No. 5 car and promptly drove it straight into the ground. He'll be replaced by Mark Martin next year.

Bad Boy drives on.

Heroes And Villains

Racing needs heroes and villains. Dale Jr.'s daddy was a villain - yes, he was - when he started out. Jeff Gordon has been a villain.

Sooner or later, people come around. It'll be that way with Kyle Busch.

Maybe.

Saturday? Busch was running near the front midway through the race. Then he had some kind of problem. Then Gibbs teammate Denny Hamlin hit him and Busch lost it. It looked like he was going to crash and collect the field. He wound up on the apron, but somehow saved it.

He went from third to 37th in the blink of an eye. Fifteen laps later, he was 20th. Did we mention he came all the way back to win the race?

It was his first Cup victory at Daytona. Fans threw more things at Kyle Busch as he emerged from his car on the infield apron, grabbed the checkered flag and waved it.

Yeah, he's bad all right.

Conserve your boos, people.

It's going to be a long season.

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