Busch boys share crash blame, but opinions differ

CONCORD, N.C. -- When Kurt Busch said that he and his younger brother, Kyle, had never in their lives wrecked each other prior to last Saturday night's Nextel Cup All-Star Challenge, he wasn't exactly telling the truth.

They had never wrecked each other on a real racetrack.

Who's to blame?

Alan Gustafson, crew chief of Kyle Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet, blamed Kurt Busch for the accident. Kurt Busch blamed Kyle, but then the big brother is always going to blame the little brother, isn't he?

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He had forgotten about the time they got into each other during the Castle Rock Court 500 in the cul-de-sac near the Busch family home. Kurt was about 14 years old at the time; Kyle was about 7.

"My dad had these two five-horsepower go-karts," Kurt Busch remembered Thursday at Lowe's Motor Speedway, site of the Busch brothers' bash last Saturday. "We would throw out some Coke cans, squash them and then drive around the cul-de-sac and race each other, whether it was against the stopwatch or actually in competition."

One day their father announced that they were going to run a five-lap event named after the street they grew up on -- Castle Rock Court.

Kurt said he took it easy on Kyle at first, letting him pass him and run in front. But then their father called out that it was the last lap.

"So I got back in front of Kyle going into Turn 1," Kurt said. "Down the back straightaway, I'm leading -- so I start counting my chickens. I've got this thing in the bag."

Of course, he didn't.

"Coming off Turn 4, I feel this nudge to the left rear," Kurt said. "[Kyle] climbs over my left-rear tire and knocks the carburetor off my go-kart. Now I don't have any power to get back to the start/finish line -- and he wins the race.

"It was like, in my mind, I had won the race because he had just clobbered me and wrecked me and took the power out of my car."

Kyle didn't see it that way, according to Kurt.

"You know what? I got back to the start/finish line first, so I won," he told big brother.

Fast-forward now 15 years, and the two still are having differences of opinions about how to race. They were racing hard last Saturday night into Turn 1 at Lowe's, when Kyle tried to pass Kurt to the inside. What happened next, well, is a matter of opinion.

Kurt thought Kyle drove to his inside too aggressively. Kyle thought Kurt should have given him more room to race. Kurt later added that maybe they should have split the difference.

Instead, neither gave an inch and they ended up getting together and wrecking each other (watch video) -- taking each other out of the running for the $1 million prize that went instead to eventual Challenge winner Kevin Harvick.

The Busch brothers were fuming after the race, although Kurt hid it better and actually lent a little humor to his post-race interview, saying he "wouldn't be eating any Kellogg's anytime soon" in reference to Kyle's main sponsor. Kyle stewed in his hauler and avoided the media after later visiting the Infield Care Center, fearing he might say something he would regret.

Kyle addressed what happened Thursday.

"I thought I could get on his inside," Kyle said of Kurt. "If it was another driver that I know I've had battles with in the past, or I know how they race, you wouldn't be able to make such a maneuver. But I figured it was Kurt. I thought, 'I'm going to get on his inside if I can make it in there, and he'll give me the room. He's my brother.'

"And it just didn't happen.''

The two brothers didn't speak to each other after the incident until Wednesday, when Kurt called Kyle on the telephone. He told Kyle that he thought Kyle had been driving a tad too aggressively.

"The initial discussion was over who was giving it and who was taking it," Kurt said. "Over the course of that discussion, I think he got the sense of realization that he's been driving a percentage point or two too high of late. ... I think he really enjoyed the talk we had. I think the big brother talk was cool, and yet wrecking on the racetrack was tough."

Well, there were times during his lengthy session with the media Thursday when it seemed Kyle was fine with the big bro advice -- and times when it seemed he resented it a little.

"There are the right places and the right times to use your aggression," Kyle said. "And obviously I felt that situation was going to be OK, and I was wrong. I made a mistake, and rethought it and it could have been a little bit different. I could have made it a little bit different.

"As far as using your aggression, it's just that there are certain times and certain places for it. Twenty laps to go in an All-Star race, why not be aggressive and go for it? You've got nothing to lose. You've got to go after the win."

Kurt said that while he understood what Kyle's mind set was, they both need to learn from the incident.

"We both thought we had a chance to win a million dollars," Kurt said. "When two brothers that think alike in many different ways are on the same spot on the racetrack, it made for a unique action-packed set of corners. We both know we need to give and take a little bit more.

"Going into a points race this weekend like the [Coca-Cola] 600, we're going to go back to the normal [way of] helping each other out, because there are only so many teammates out there that you can have. Having a set of brothers that are competitive like we are, we can definitely help each other out. We've talked now and understand the big picture."

It reminded Kurt of the lessons learned during that Castle Rock Court 500 so long ago.

"That was the only other time we ever ran into each other, and it was funny at the time," Kurt said. "It reminded me a lot about what happened Saturday night. We both wanted the same thing at he same time, but we ran into each other. And since we're brothers, now we're going to carry each other through it."