Kyle Busch is one of the most emotional drivers in the sport. The two-time Cup Series winner and the 2009 Xfinity Series champion rarely tries to sugarcoat his feelings in front of the media. In one such instance, he gave a candid and intense interview after suffering late setbacks in the 2019 South Point 400.
Kyle Busch Held Nothing Back in Interview After Las Vegas Controversy
Busch had worked his way into contention for a top-five finish in the 2019 NASCAR Playoffs opener. However, late-race clashes with lapped drivers Joey Gase and Garrett Smithley halted his progress at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
His fiery post-race remarks were met with backlash from Gase and Smithley, leading to a disagreement between drivers representing teams on opposite sides of the Monster Energy Series garage.
Busch, who entered the playoffs as the regular-season champion, finished 19th in the South Point 400, cutting into his playoff-point margin in the Round of 16.
In his post-race comments, he questioned the credentials of the two drivers and their difficulty in making way for his faster No. 18 Toyota.
“I don’t know. I was told he was going to go high. I thought he was going to go high, he went middle because I thought he was going to go high, and killed our day,” Busch told NBC Sports.
He was scored one lap down at the finish. “I don’t know. I should’ve run fourth, probably, but instead, 19th. I don’t know. We’re the top echelon of motorsports and we’ve got guys that have never won Late Model races running out here on the race track. It’s pathetic. They don’t know where to go. So, what else do you do?”
He was more direct in venting his frustrations when speaking to FOX NASCAR.
"I'm just here so I don't get fined." – Kyle Busch@LVMotorSpeedway | #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/EKAhtgXrmJ
— FOX: NASCAR (@NASCARONFOX) March 4, 2021
“I’m just here so I don’t get fined.”
A reporter then inquired whether Busch felt confident about his overall chances at Homestead, the final race of the 2019 season. He had a short and immediate response.
“Don’t care.”
Busch, clearly frustrated, asked if he could be excused.
“I’m answering the dumbest f*cking questions over and over again. Am I good?” Busch said.
After Busch’s hasty departure, Gase and Smithley shared their views.
“The spotter said that the leaders were coming, and he said go to the top side, so we went to the top side, and I was committed to that lane,” Smithley told NASCAR.com. “I mean, they’re supposed to go around us. I should’ve just stayed on the bottom, really. I shouldn’t have listened to the spotter, honestly. He did a good job all day long until he told us to go up there, so I don’t know. It is what it is.”
“I mean, as a lapped car, you’ve just got to pick which groove you’re going to stay in because you can’t constantly switch for everybody, and I was just staying on high side the whole time, and then he just decided to run in the back of me,” Gase told NASCAR.com. “I don’t know. Everyone else figured it out.”