Kyle Busch: Love Him or Hate Him?

Kyle Busch, a.k.a. Rowdy, is the driver of the #18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry, but you already knew that. After all, if you are alive and breathing with a pulse whether or not you are a race fan you have heard of this talented young driver from Nevada. Kyle is probably one of the most gifted and talented drivers in all of Motorsports today. You can argue that point all day. Of course you can argue all day that he is not exactly a fan favorite in sport either, mostly despised by Junior Nation fans. Why all the hatred 88 fans?

Kyle has gotten a lot of media coverage for taking "jabs" at Dale Earnhardt Jr. A lot of Jr. Nations fans seem to be pretty upset at this making sure they have something bad to say about Rowdy. I do not really think I blame Busch for his comments though. If you were replaced at an organization by the sports most popular driver only to have outperformed him in ever aspect you would probably be angry too. I imagine I would take every chance I got to remind everyone out there that I am doing great and competitive week in and week out and that you are basically nothing more than overrated at this point, just like he is doing. Lets face the facts that are surrounding all of this. Quite simply Rowdy has done nothing except perform way above par at JGR while Junior has left people with that empty feeling in their stomach since joining Hendrick Motorsports. Rowdy has been winning races and the 88 team has not. Seems to me to be good reasons to voice my opinion. I think Rowdy is good for the sport, he says what is on his mind whether it is good or bad, whether or not it is politically correct or not. One thing is for sure, love or hate him you are talking about him and reading about him.

Rowdy Busch may be many things to many different people but everyone agrees he is what we call a "wheelman". Anytime he gets behind the wheel of a race car you can bet that he is going to push it to the limit and do whatever he can to win. The problem is that when he does it the media strikes it down as bad racing and that he is bad for the sport. He drives a lot like Dale Sr. if you ask me. Nobody complained when the Intimidator did it.

Lets take a look at some interesting facts about his career so far.

When Rowdy turned 18 he entered seven NASCAR Nationwide Series races coming in at the brides maid position at Lowe's Motor Speedway in just his very first start. Busch rounded out the year with two second-place finishes, three top-10 finishes and five top-10 qualifying efforts.

In 2004 making his first career start at the famed high banks of Daytona he was able to pull of an ARCA win on Feb. 7th. After his first full season in the Nationwide Series, Busch was the youngest top rookie in series history at age 19.

Rowdy snagged his first Nationwide Series victory on May 14th, 2004 at Richmond International Raceway. Following that win would be four more; Lowe's Motor Speedway, Kentucky Speedway, O'Reilly Raceway Park and Michigan International Speedway. He rounded out the season with five poles, five wins, 16 top-fives, 22 top-10s and a runner-up finish in the point standings.

To garner experience at the next level he qualified for six Sprint Cup races. In late 2004, Busch's career dreams came true, as he was selected to replace the retiring Terry Labonte in Hendrick Motorsports' No. 5 car beginning in 2005.At age 19, Kyle started the 2005 season with a record-setting pole at Auto Club Speedway in just his eighth career Sprint Cup start. Busch, who was 19 years, 317 days old, broke the record previously held by Donald Thomas, who was 20 years, 129 days old when he won the pole at Lakewood (Ga.) Speedway on Nov. 16, 1952. Thomas went on to win that race and remained the youngest race winner in Sprint Cup history until Busch won at Auto Club Speedway on Sept. 4, 2005. Busch bested Thomas's record by a mere four days.

Kyle wrapped up his rookie season with another victory at Phoenix International Raceway in November. His first year consisted of one pole, nine top-fives, 13 top-10s, two wins and a 20th place finish in the standings. Busch added to his trophy room by by winning the Sprint Cup Series Rookie of the Year title, and in doing so, became the youngest winner of the award in Sprint Cup history. Some pretty interesting and impressive facts for Mr. Busch.

Something that is very interesting about Rowdy Busch is that fact that his aggressive nature on the track spills over into charity. The Kyle Busch Foundation in 2006 to benefit child and adolescent agencies that provide safe living environments for the less fortunate. The Foundation currently supports homes in Grand Rapids, Mich., Concord, N.C., Atlanta, Mesa, Ariz., and in Las Vegas.

Love him or hate him he his here to stay. The man is talented and passoniate on and off the track. NASCAR could use more drives like Rowdy.