For the second straight week, Kyle Busch was in the spotlight following a racing incident at Charlotte that left other drivers questioning his understanding of racing etiquette.
Jeff Burton, Kyle Busch Clash Following Coca-Cola 600
First it was teammate Denny Hamlin in the All-Star Race, who wondered why Busch was so upset with him. Sunday night, it was Jeff Burton, who confronted Busch on pit road after some late-race contact.
Late in the Coke 600, Busch, Burton and Clint Bowyer had gone three-wide, and Burton had a tire cut down by contact with Busch.
Unfortunately for Burton, who had a car that could challenge for the win, the flat tire forced him to pit and turned a likely top-five finish into 25th.
The sequence of events left the veteran furious with Busch, and Burton let him know about it on pit road after the race.
"Kyle made it three-wide on the restart because the guys on the bottom didn't have tires and he was trying to make something happen, which I don't have a problem with," Burton said. "So he runs into me and cuts my left-rear tire, then I have a problem with it. He's real aggressive. That's cool. But when he starts affecting me with his aggressiveness, I just will not put up with it. I've been around here long enough. I just will not tolerate it."
On Thursday, Burton had defended Busch’s style and said he enjoyed racing with the aggressive driver.
“I like racing with Kyle; I really do,” Burton said then. “I know he’s going to be aggressive and I know he’s going to come at me, but I’m good with that.”
But Sunday night, his tune was slightly different.
This time, Burton said he likes racing with Busch, but refuses to be "the victim of his aggressiveness."
“I don’t really have any trouble with Kyle,” Burton said. “We all make mistakes, but when you see somebody as aggressive as he is, when he makes a mistake around you, it makes you mad.”
Of their conversation on pit road, Burton said: “First he said he didn’t hit me. Then he said he got put there, then he said he had to go. He didn’t mean to do it, OK. He was trying to defend himself and what he was saying wasn’t making sense. That’s OK, he was upset because I was yelling at him. He didn’t mean to do it, but he’s real aggressive and I don’t mind that. But like I said, when it affects me, then I have a problem.”
Busch seemed disappointed that Burton was upset with him and observed the “nice respect stuff that he talked about earlier this week is out the window.”
“I have no idea what transpired there,” Busch said. ”...After the race, he was just real mad at me. He said I didn’t race him with enough respect, he’s not going to show me any.
“I said, ‘Look, man, last restart of the race. You have to go, make some bold moves. It wasn’t me that made it three-wide, it was your teammate (Clint Bowyer). Have a chat with him.’”
Said Burton: “It’s all cool making it three-wide, but if you can’t make it three-wide without running into somebody, then you shouldn’t do it.”
Asked what Busch could have done differently, Burton had a simple answer.
“Not run into me,” he said. “That’s what he could have done different.”
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