Las Vegas has different feel without Busch brothers

With Kyle Busch home recovering from a broken foot and leg suffered in an XFINITY Series race two weeks ago at Daytona and Kurt Busch serving an indefinite suspension from NASCAR for legal troubles stemming from a domestic violence allegation and no-contact order, the season-opening Daytona 500 two weeks ago marked the first time since Atlanta in 2001 that NASCAR’s top series ran a race without a Busch brother competing.

The effect has been felt by fan and foe, on track and off it.

The fact is, subtracting the Busch brothers from contention exponentially increases the success odds for the rest of the field.

Kyle, who drives the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, has 29 Cup wins and 118 top-five finishes. In the XFINITY Series, his 70 wins are most all-time — well ahead of second-place Mark Martin‘s 49 victories. And before his injury, he was winning an astounding one in every three Camping World Truck Series starts — 42 wins in 125 starts. Pretty impressive numbers and Kyle is not even 30 years old yet.

Kurt, 36, who drives the No. 41 Haas Automation Chevy for Stewart-Haas Racing, has similarly proven himself a top competitor with 25 Cup wins and the 2004 championship. He also has nine wins combined in the XFINITY (five) and Camping World Truck Series (four).

Perhaps more than the winning — or because of it — these two drivers have become some of the most polarizing figures in the sport as well. Driver introductions are weekly reminders of how many fans love watching their brash personalities and supreme driving talent. Or … the pre-race ceremony serves as a harsh reminder of those who don’t love them as much. Either way, you can always hear a Busch brother intro.

Last year, Kyle was asked if at least in his hometown Las Vegas, the love and cheers surpass the boos and jeers.

“No,” he deadpanned before breaking into a huge grin.

“This is a vacation destination for a lot of NASCAR fans so there are a lot of out-of-towners that come. It’s not like there will be 100,000 people from Las Vegas sitting in these grandstands, probably more like 20 or 30 (thousand). It’s part of the deal.”

Then, he paused, thought about it and smiled again.

“When I was coming up through the ranks I won a lot, probably won too much and didn’t make too many friends, so I’m not sure I’d have many pulling for me anyway because I kicked their butts,” Kyle said.

The 2009 Las Vegas Cup winner does, however, concede a win there is different from anywhere else.

“I always look forward to going to Vegas, Vegas is home,” Kyle said, recalling last year the sentimental attachments to the area.

“Just coming back to Las Vegas and being back at this race track remembering it being built and racing at the short track over the corner there, honing my skills to make it to this level.”

He also recently shared an insightful story about the racing connection he feels here on former crew chief Ray Everhman’s Velocity network show “AmeriCarna”. As a youngster in the 1990s he attended an XFINITY Series test session at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval and took the opportunity to introduce himself to one of his favorite young NASCAR drivers.

“I think I was 12-, 13-years old, just being a Jeff Gordon fan,” Kyle recounted on a recent episode. “I specifically remember wanting to go out there and wanting to see if I had a chance to get up close and personal and meet those guys.

“Five o’clock came around. We knew they were off the track then. I went up to Jeff. He was just kind of sitting there at the back of his hauler. I asked him if it was a good opportunity for me to introduce myself to him, talk to him a little bit and asked him if he wouldn’t mind signing a couple things for me.

“I told him that if he was in town that ‘Hey, I race Legends cars at the short track right over there. You ought to come over and check me out. One of these days I’m going to be racing against you.’ “

Unfortunately for the Busch brothers — and Kyle in particular — he won’t have one last chance to race Gordon on his home track as this will be Gordon’s final full-time season.

There will be the good memories, however, and the ultimate in praise Kyle has earned from Gordon — more than a decade after their first interaction and Busch’s rise from the Las Vegas desert.

“I respect his talent, that team, and he’s aggressive,” Gordon said after edging Kyle for a win in Phoenix in 2011. “I think everybody knows, you don’t want to have to restart up against him. He’s just won a lot of stuff lately.

“And to be quite honest with you, to me, there’s nothing cooler. I mean, maybe if that was with Jimmie; Jimmie and Kyle, I mean, to me, that’s where they are at on tough guys in this sport to beat aggressive, talented drivers.”

Cheer them or jeer them, the sport misses the Busch brothers already.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

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