NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Kurt Busch wants to put the “R” back in racing.
For Busch, that “R” stands for rubbing. And if that’s what it takes to win a race, this NASCAR champ is not holding back.
Busch exchanged paint — then words — with five-time title winner Jimmie Johnson at Pocono Raceway last Sunday, but J.J. was still irate when the episode was broached on Friday.
While Johnson was tweaked that Busch raced him aggressively in the closing laps of the Pocono romp and maintained his third-place position, he was even more perturbed by his competitor’s snarky retorts to the media following the pair’s initial verbal confrontation on pit road.
“There’s lines there that you cross,” Johnson said. “The stuff on track, yes, it made me mad, but to have somebody run their mouth like he does and did to me, that’s the part . . . if you look back at the timeline and where I was the maddest, that is when I was mad. So, that’s where we are.”
Busch seemed satisfied that he was able to get under Johnson’s skin so easily.
“It’s great,” Busch said. “It means that I’m in his head and if I’m in his head, he’s got to worry about us running through this Chase.”
For Johnson, who is usually mellow and mild-mannered off the track, his reaction to Busch was surprising. No, these two champions don’t care for each other. A year ago at Pocono, Johnson punted Busch off the straightaway, causing a chain reaction that collected Clint Bowyer and Elliott Sadler in the process.
It’s not surprising given their history that Busch would invoke a little “boys have at it” stance when the tour returned to the scene of the crime. Although Johnson felt his nemesis crossed the line on pit road, Busch acknowledges the tone was set on the racetrack for this round — and for the rivalry well before.
“He was very excited after the race and came over to my car in my pit area where we were parked and was really excited,” Busch said. For me, I think the line was when he swerved at us to break the draft, that’s not a move of a five-time champion. That’s the move of a guy that has had an issue with a guy like me.
“We’ve raced each other hard and I’ve been spun out and wrecked a few times. We both know that we look at each other very sternly. That’s great competition. That blends into rubbin’ is racing. When you have a history with a guy, you just don’t forget about it. I learned from one of the greats about how to keep a memory of who does you right or who does you wrong and that was Jimmy Spencer. He taught me a lot.”
Busch’s ordeal with Spencer did not start overnight. Spencer refused to ease up on Busch at Phoenix during his rookie season. Mr. Excitement dumped the freshman and Busch fell from out of the top 10 to finish 22nd. At Bristol the following spring, Spencer led 54 laps before Busch returned the favor from Phoenix. Busch knocked Spencer out of the lead and went on to win his first of four races in 2002. Spencer never won again. Round 3 occurred that same year when Spencer, then 45, jacked up Busch at the Brickyard on his 24th birthday invoking the “I don’t forget” mantra.
While both drivers were called to the trailer, the feud didn’t stop there. One year later at Michigan, Busch ran out of gas in front of Spencer’s transporter. Spencer plowed into the back of the car, climbed from his machine and punched Busch in the face.
The following week at Bristol, Spencer was parked but T-shirts were passed out with “free Mongo” the Sirius mascot dog relieving itself on a driver with a black eye. Busch won the race, but has spent the last eight years rebuilding his reputation.
Certainly, at 33, Busch has come a long way from the brash punk that first took on Spencer nearly a decade ago. No longer must he prove himself on or off the track. After all, he too is a NASCAR Cup champion and one of four or five guys with a realistic opportunity of knocking Johnson from the title throne.
On Sunday, Busch, who finished second here in 2010 and won the last road course race at Sonoma, rolls off 27th. Johnson, however, starts fourth. With Johnson and Busch, second and fourth, respectively in the point standings, both have a built-in cushion for the Chase to the Sprint Cup.
Recently, road courses have evolved into the perfect venue for retribution. If not Watkins Glen, then certainly Bristol and Richmond could provide a setting to ignite the rivalry as well. Whether further altercations occur or not, the stage has been set for a rematch. And the fans will be waiting.
“You always seem like you have two or three guys, and then it got down just to two guys who were going to compete for the championship. I’d love to see that atmosphere. If we can perform well enough in the Chase and be in position to race Jimmie Johnson for the championship head-to-head, that would be wonderful.
“For the way the new points system was structured, it’s not really possible because you can’t just focus on one guy. There’s going to be 12 guys that make this Chase and every one of them has a shot at the championship.”
