I'm Just Sayin'...
By Matthew Scott
Monday, May 12th, 2008

Kyle Busch's Nationwide crew paints the name "Rowdy" on his car. It's a nod to the character Rowdy Gaines from the movie "Days of Thunder." In the film, Rowdy is the chief protagonist of Tom Cruise's character, Cole.

That's nice, but they picked the wrong guy.

Kyle Busch is much more like Cary Elwes character, Russ Wheeler. You know, the cocky but talented youngster, the kid who says things like, 'I won't see him much, except maybe in my rear view mirror," and promises to wreck poor Cole if he gets in Wheeler's way? In other words…the Bad Boy.

Is there anyone better-suited to fill that role than the Shrub? He's talented, witty, walks with what you might call a perma-smirk, and speaks his mind no matter the consequences. Not since the days of Darrell "Jaws" Waltrip has there been a more natural villain to the more established heroes of the Cup garage.

I hear you 24 haters screaming, "What about Jeff Gordon?" Yes, Gordon became the most-despised person in NASCAR, but that was simply because he won…a lot…more than anyone else. Gordon never embraced that role, and certainly never encouraged it. He smiled about it, shrugged, and went about his business. Whether it's the explosion in popularity NASCAR has experienced since the mid-90s, the mindset of the YouTube generation, or what, shrugging it off and moving forward is not something Busch has been willing or able to do, and it's been great for both him and the sport.

Did you see him during the pre-race festivities, when he removed his sunglasses and pretended to wipe away a tear as the boos rained down from the grandstands? How about after bouncing off the walls a half dozen times and still outclassing the field when he stepped out of his car and bowed in the face of the once-again cascading boos? NASCAR won't admit it, but that kind of stuff is gold for them. If the NASCAR P.R. machine could script things (and some have said they do), that's exactly the script they would have written for Saturday night's race at Darlington.

It certainly helps advance the Bad Boy image and cause that Kyle's most-recent clash involved the most beloved man in Nascar, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. And it cannot be denied that Kyle's style seems eerily similar to Big E. Of course, simply suggesting Kyle Busch bears any resemblance to Dale Earnhardt is enough to get you beaten severely in some quarters, but folks, it has to be done. Take the Busch / Little E incident at Richmond as an example. Put the black 3 where the 18 was, and put just about anybody where the 88 was, and you were transported back to the 80s and 90s. After the race, Busch referred to the accident as good, hard, racing. Wouldn't Earnhardt have said the same thing? Heck, didn't he say it a lot?

Sunday night, I watched Speed TV's call-in show, "Wind Tunnel," and they received a comical email in which the writer suggested Kyle Busch wrecks people on purpose, but Earnhardt's accidents were always just that, accidents. Another fan repeatedly referred to Busch as an "idiot" and suggested Big E, if he were still around, would have done something to settle down Busch. The implication, of course, is that Earnhardt would have put the Shrub into the wall. Aren't we just talking in circles here?

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not taking sides in this one. I just don't think anyone can unequivocally say Kyle Busch has nothing in common with Dale Earnhardt. And if the Earnhardt Nation needs something to calm that burning in the pit of their collective stomach, just keep in mind Busch is the rage right now because he's winning. He's in good stuff, and he probably feels invincible. Big E didn't talk much about rattling cages in the last few years of his career. Know why? Because his stuff wasn't as good, and he wasn't winning with the consistency he once had. Busch will most likely have to deal with that some day.

In the meantime, do M&M's come in black?

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