NASCAR RACEDAY ANALYSTS PETTY AND WALLACE SOUND OFF ON KYLE BUSCH’S ACTIONS AND THE AFTERMATH
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Petty: “This isn’t all about Kyle Busch … there is a massive ripple effect. There’s people that pay money to come to this race track to see Kyle Busch sit in that race car.”
Wallace: “I’ve been defending Kyle Busch since 2005 … I can’t defend him anymore.”
Not surprisingly, NASCAR’s parking of Kyle Busch Saturday and Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway dominated the talk in the garage and on NASCAR RaceDay Built by The Home Depot Sunday on SPEED.
SPEED analyst Kyle Petty was quite vocal in his scrutiny of the repercussions that Busch’s parking for his actions in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas have beyond immediate effect on his team and his spot in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. Kenny Wallace, a fulltime NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and SPEED analyst who religiously has defended Busch over the years, also took the driver to task for his actions.
Following are excerpts from Petty and Wallace’s discussion on NASCAR RaceDay with host John Roberts.
Roberts: What did you think of Busch’s apology letter?
Petty: “This isn’t all about Kyle Busch. I think Kyle got lost in all this. ‘This is all about me.’ This is not all about Kyle Busch. It’s about his family; it’s about NASCAR; it’s about that team; it’s about his sponsors and as important as anything, it’s about these people you see behind me (the fans) and these people that sit in the grandstands and buy these products and buy his souvenirs. There is a massive ripple effect. There’s people that pay money to come to this race track to see Kyle Busch sit in that race car. There’s a company out there- multiple companies – that pay money to bring that race car here. Kyle Busch’s actions spoke louder than his words. I appreciate his apology, but I think Kyle really has to read that apology and think about what that apology means and take those words and turn them into actions. So far this weekend, his actions have spoken a lot louder than his words have.”
Wallace: “I’ve been defending Kyle Busch since 2005. I’m one of his biggest fans. If you’ve ever watched this show, I’m like, ‘Give him a break. He’s a great race car driver.’ Well, I can’t defend him anymore. He’s one of the greatest talents of all time and I get that. That’s why this is so disappointing to me. We’ve been talking this year about how this is a new Kyle Busch. He’s changed. Well, you know what? This is a big step backwards. I’m going to be rooting him on to overcome this. We’ve been waiting for this great race car driver to take control of this sport and be like a Jeff Burton. We’ve been waiting for Kyle Busch to run the garage area. Why? Because he’s an incredible talent. Wouldn’t it be great to have this incredible talent, a great race car driver, match skills inside the garage and say, ‘Hey guys, we can’t be doing that?’ So, this is a big step backwards. I’ll be rooting him on, but I think this one is going to take two, three, four, five years to see if we can get him back to help lead this sport into the next years.”
Roberts: Is the punishment enough?
Petty: “No, I don’t think the punishment is enough. But I thought Carl Edwards should have sat down for three weeks also (after the Atlanta incident with Brad Keselowski). That was Kyle’s (Petty) opinion. That was Kyle’s opinion, not the opinion of this network (SPEED) or any of its affiliates or anyone else. My opinion because I thought that was as blatant an incident as I’d ever seen – coming out of the garage area and wrecking Brad (Keselowski). This incident ranks right there with it. I don’t say it’s any worse than that incident, but I think those are two marks where when NASCAR says, ‘We’ll know it when we see it,’ I think they saw it once and didn’t act on it. I think they acted this time.”
Wallace: “I agree with Kyle (Petty) on this one. I agree the punishment fits the crime. I’m going to go as far as to say there may be more reaction from Joe Gibbs Racing. When does it come the time that the team takes responsibility for the driver? Right now, NASCAR is doing all the ruling. The biggest topic I’ve seen on Twitter is ‘Why is this different than what Carl Edwards did to Brad Keselowski?’ Kyle Busch has been warned. He’s been on probation. He’s been in a lot of trouble and I feel like NASCAR has said he’s out of control; we’ve got to get control of this. Carl Edwards has always been a good guy and has been good for this sport except for that one moment.”
- SPEED, Press Release
