Post by dalejrfan on Jul 19, 2009 3:12:25 GMT -5
Kyle Busch's attitude is terrible and he has to get it straightened out.
I'll be the first to tell you that I would love to be his crew chief because he drives the guts out of that race car. It doesn't matter what series or whether it's a practice session or a race, he goes all out all the time. He's phenomenal behind the wheel.
It's easy to have a great attitude when you are running up front, leading laps and winning races. You can't find a driver who wouldn't be like that when things are going their way. Where the challenge lies is keeping a positive upbeat attitude when things aren't going well. I honestly believe this is an obstacle with Kyle.
If nothing else, it has to rub off on the people around him. The crew chief, the pit crew, the guys back at the shop, it has to rub off on all of them when its always negative, negative and negative some more.
We don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but for as much as people persons that Joe and J.D. Gibbs are, I just can't fathom that they are turning their back on this kid and letting him run free. Just think about all the egos and personalities Coach Gibbs had to deal with in the NFL. But always being negative and declining to do interviews has got to change.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want a happy loser. As I always say, show me a happy loser and I will show you a loser. You can't continue to do the things he is doing like beating his crew up every weekend and declining media interviews time after time when things aren't going exactly right.
Kyle is the greatest person to be around for an interview when he is winning, but he has to be the worst person to be around even when he runs second. To me, that is an obstacle. I truly believe that. If I was Joe Gibbs and had Kyle representing my company and his sponsor M&M Mars, I think I would have a talk with him about cleaning up his act. If nothing else, do it for the team and the organization's mental state.
When even Jeff Gordon says Kyle is the most talented driver he has ever raced against, that should tell you something. I've said this before but this is probably what happened at Hendrick Motorsports. Sure, Rick had to open the door for the marketing machine that is Dale Earnhardt Jr. But you also have to figure that despite his obvious talent, Rick questioned whether it was worth all the baggage that came with it.
What about all the Kyle Busch fans out there? Sure, they love hearing from him when he wins, but they also want to hear from him when he wrecks at Daytona or after the engine blows up at Chicagoland. You simply can't blow these interviews off week after week after week. Per the NASCAR rules he is required to do interviews when he finishes in the top 3, but sometimes after doing one of those interviews I question why we bothered.
To me there are only two people who can fix this, other than Kyle himself and it's Joe and J.D. Gibbs. Kyle simply has to get this out of his system and this chip off his shoulder. He might be surprised what a difference in itself that would make.
The great thing about the Chase is it can fix a lot of things pretty quickly. What a reversal from a year ago when we headed into the Chase and everyone was saying NASCAR should just go ahead and engrave his name on the trophy. Anybody who makes that top 12 -- and Kyle still has a good chance of staying in there -- can win it.
To me there are still 14 or 15 teams that are not only alive for the Chase but also alive for the championship. There are only seven races left to set the field for the Chase and then 10 races for the championship. That's a lot of racing still to go and I am excited to see how it all plays out.
I'll be the first to tell you that I would love to be his crew chief because he drives the guts out of that race car. It doesn't matter what series or whether it's a practice session or a race, he goes all out all the time. He's phenomenal behind the wheel.
It's easy to have a great attitude when you are running up front, leading laps and winning races. You can't find a driver who wouldn't be like that when things are going their way. Where the challenge lies is keeping a positive upbeat attitude when things aren't going well. I honestly believe this is an obstacle with Kyle.
If nothing else, it has to rub off on the people around him. The crew chief, the pit crew, the guys back at the shop, it has to rub off on all of them when its always negative, negative and negative some more.
We don't know what goes on behind closed doors, but for as much as people persons that Joe and J.D. Gibbs are, I just can't fathom that they are turning their back on this kid and letting him run free. Just think about all the egos and personalities Coach Gibbs had to deal with in the NFL. But always being negative and declining to do interviews has got to change.
Don't get me wrong, I don't want a happy loser. As I always say, show me a happy loser and I will show you a loser. You can't continue to do the things he is doing like beating his crew up every weekend and declining media interviews time after time when things aren't going exactly right.
Kyle is the greatest person to be around for an interview when he is winning, but he has to be the worst person to be around even when he runs second. To me, that is an obstacle. I truly believe that. If I was Joe Gibbs and had Kyle representing my company and his sponsor M&M Mars, I think I would have a talk with him about cleaning up his act. If nothing else, do it for the team and the organization's mental state.
When even Jeff Gordon says Kyle is the most talented driver he has ever raced against, that should tell you something. I've said this before but this is probably what happened at Hendrick Motorsports. Sure, Rick had to open the door for the marketing machine that is Dale Earnhardt Jr. But you also have to figure that despite his obvious talent, Rick questioned whether it was worth all the baggage that came with it.
What about all the Kyle Busch fans out there? Sure, they love hearing from him when he wins, but they also want to hear from him when he wrecks at Daytona or after the engine blows up at Chicagoland. You simply can't blow these interviews off week after week after week. Per the NASCAR rules he is required to do interviews when he finishes in the top 3, but sometimes after doing one of those interviews I question why we bothered.
To me there are only two people who can fix this, other than Kyle himself and it's Joe and J.D. Gibbs. Kyle simply has to get this out of his system and this chip off his shoulder. He might be surprised what a difference in itself that would make.
The great thing about the Chase is it can fix a lot of things pretty quickly. What a reversal from a year ago when we headed into the Chase and everyone was saying NASCAR should just go ahead and engrave his name on the trophy. Anybody who makes that top 12 -- and Kyle still has a good chance of staying in there -- can win it.
To me there are still 14 or 15 teams that are not only alive for the Chase but also alive for the championship. There are only seven races left to set the field for the Chase and then 10 races for the championship. That's a lot of racing still to go and I am excited to see how it all plays out.