This week, the TV network televising the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races changed. Gone is Fox with all the good and not so good things they brought to the table. Starting a six race run is TNT. The star of their coverage is Kyle Petty.
This year, Petty decided to ride his motorcycle to all six races with SPEED's Rutledge Wood stowed in the sidecar. On this first trip to Pocono, he decided to make a couple of stops. One was very special to him for a simple reason. Petty loves guitars.
That is Petty above at the CF Martin Guitar company holding up a hand-made guitar that will retail for over one hundred thousand dollars. It is clear to see that this stop was a great call. The smile on Petty's face could not be any bigger.
Sunday, Petty gets to walk into a sport that had a very tough weekend so far on TV. Friday's Sprint Cup activity from Pocono was washed away completely. The Friday night Camping World Truck Series race from Texas featured a starting field of 33 trucks. 10 of them pulled off the track and headed straight for the garage before the first pit stop for fuel. They were fake teams with no agenda of ever racing.
Saturday brought a Nationwide Series qualifying session that was started late due to live college baseball on ESPN2. It was not switched to ESPN Classic, but instead was collapsed in awkward style by simply dropping segments of the program. It made the announcers, the network and the sport look ridiculous.
Hours later, the Nationwide Series race from Music City USA (Nashville, TN) was run live with the TV theme that a new face was going to be in Victory Lane. Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch had flown from Pocono to race, so the Nationwide regulars only had to get by two Cup drivers to win.
Kyle Busch then dominated the race, decimated the Nationwide regulars and lit his tires on fire doing a burnout. But, he saved the very best for last.
He then stepped into Victory Lane and smashed one of the most treasured trophies in NASCAR to pieces. It was a guitar. Artist Sam Bass had hand-painted a custom-made Gibson Les Paul model guitar. It is a trophy as historic to Nashville as the grandfather clock is to Martinsville. Instead of appreciating it, Busch broke it to pieces on national TV.
The ESPN telecast crew did not know what to do or say. Busch is a talented driver who works for Joe Gibbs Racing, one of the most respected teams in the sport. ESPN let Busch completely off the hook and closed the show without a moment of explanation to the shocked TV audience.
Into this mess steps Kyle Petty. While he is joined by Bill Weber, Wally Dallenbach and Larry McReynolds, it is clear that Petty is the show. TNT has 90 minutes of pre-race programming before the Pocono race. The first hour features Petty and McReynolds.
Kyle cut his TV teeth on the now cancelled Tradin' Paint show on SPEED and also on his six race TNT assignment. On this Sunday, a lot of eyes will be on him as he wades through the mess of this very strange weekend. The good news is that Petty has the capacity to handle it and the experience to be credible when he does.
This first Sprint Cup race without Digger, Darrell Waltrip or the Fox attitude could not have come at a better time. The TNT crew handled the Cup happy hour telecast on Saturday and it appeared that they had not missed a beat since last year. NASCAR needs a change of pace, a breath of fresh air and a TV perspective that is not tainted with team ownership or sponsor commitments.
TNT has all kinds of video features ready for the pre-race, from Petty's ride to the track to a profile of NASCAR legend Dave Marcis. Reporter Lindsay Czarniak goes fishing with Ryan Newman and his dad near the track while Wally's World goes green screen. This year, Dallenbach is going to be superimposed on each track to explain the specifics of what to watch for in the race and how to get around the different circuits.
TNT hits the air at 12:30PM with NASCAR on TNT Live and then at 1:30PM with Countdown to Green. Race coverage starts at 2PM. TDP will be live blogging the race telecast, please join us.
NASCAR fans can get the early news from NASCAR Now on ESPN2 at 10AM. Mike Massaro is in the studio with Boris Said while Angelique Chengelis and Nicole Manske will be reporting from Pocono. RaceDay on SPEED starts at 10:30AM and Jimmy Spencer is back on the set. His reaction to the Kyle Busch incident might be well worth watching.
TDP welcomes comments from readers. Just click on the comments button below and follow the easy instructions. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by.
88 comments:
Sam Bass was fine with the guitar smash. Read the ESPN article. Kyle had said that he wanted to break the guitar like a rock star and then give the pieces to his crew. Bass said he was shocked at first, but after talking to Kyle, thought it was quite in the spirit of rock and roll.
Or Bass was just being a gentleman in his public comments so as not to rock the boat.
Sam has class, which is something Kyle does not have.
Don't let what's his name near that guitar.
Could it be poetic justice that there is one of the common rain delays at Pocono Sunday and Kyle B's post-race antics overshadow his on-track performance. As I recall about 20 years ago a Pocono race was red-flagged for fog.
JD your article & the picture are priceless. See you in a few hours.
OT a little bit. Went to NASCAR.com and the first thing I saw was little RaceBuddy with a sign next to him that said "Where Gophers Play." He then took a manhole cover and put it over the hole where Digger would be and then tightened the screws. Hysterical.
Ryan, we in the TV world call that spin.
Common sense tell us that an artist who hand-painted a trophy for a high-profile NASCAR race did not put in the time and effort to have it destroyed.
As another poster said, Bass is a nice man who has style and dignity.
I have no opinion on Kyle Busch, any driver in the Nationwide Series who smashed this historic trophy on national TV in front of the artist and a shocked Nashville crowd would be getting the same comments.
This might prove to be the "grow-up" moment in Mr. Busch's career.
JD
@Ryan--I agree with anon 1:15--it's all PR spin. If he truly felt otherwise he's not going to say it.
@Dot--in Kyle's tweet he was nervous just holding it and was shocked they trusted him with it.
@Karen--I love Digger but thought that was cute!
Here's what I imagine a crew member said, "oohh, looky I got a fret". OK, I'm done.
I'm fizzed up about Race Buddy and TNT. Anything is better than Digger and Co. As silly as this sounds, I like the trees at Pocono waving as the cars race past. Cool shot.
TNTs coverage has to be better than what we were subjected to so far. That's my hope anyway.
@ Gymmie, I was confused for a moment when you said Kyle. Oh, not that Kyle.
@ Karen, too funny.
@ JD, love your sense of humor. The picture of Kyle P and the guitar. You're the best.
So its impossible for him to be cool with it. Goodness gracious.
Impossible?
No.
Highly unlikely?
Yes.
I just went to NASCAR.com and was greeted with the best pop-up video I've ever seen on the site. It started by showing a hole in the ground next to a race track with a sign over it that said something like "Gophers at Play". Then the RaceBuddy character suddenly ran into the screen, slammed a TNT manhole cover over the hole, and drilled it in place.
Bravo to the Turner Folks for taking off the gloves! I love it!!!! I just wish I could figure out how to get it to pop up again, LOL.
I have nothing more to add to tonights WWE theatrics,except when I see the replays tomorrow, I WILL CRINGE. *sigh*
This has PR SPIN and NASCAR Script all over it.
I look forward to TNT but it's only 6 races.
Afraid I just can NOT deal with the booth issues of BSPN and lack of info for CUP races. I just can NOT. And the snoozefest of crickets in the booth. How ESPN can insult the history of the sport and NOT put people WHERE they can shine...shrugs. BSPN does NOT CARE what we want
I very much look forward to what Kyle Petty has to say on the music issue.
P.S. LOVED the cartoon on NASCAR.com
P.P.S. Stricklanfan
THANK YOU for the suggestion to ignore the tantrums.
IF ONLY the media would follow suit.
Oops, sorry for repeating what you said earlier Karen. Didn't refresh the browser to see the other comments before I posted....
@Dot--no the ONLY Kyle for me is Kyle Petty. The other person is Kylie or SDDD :)
@Ryan--anything is possible but I truly doubt that he'd put in all that work and be "fine" with someone smashing it to smithereens on Live National TV. Mr. Bass is not going to throw anyone under the bus on TV or in an article. No I'm not a SDDD fan but even if one of my drivers did the same I'd be livid with them as well.
strick,
I use IE to connect to the net. I went through Mozilla and got the cartoon to replay. I don't how many other ways to connect, but if you use a different one each time, it'll replay.
Kyle Bush is just a punk and there is no getting around it and I for one wish that the Cup drivers would stayin Cup and let the Nationwide drivers race and not be overshadowed by these high dollar drivers. You don't see NFL players going back to college to play after they have finished, so why should the Cup drivers go back to different series that feed the Cup series? This has been a huge bone of contention for years.
Funny, it is clear that almost none of the whiners here actually go to races (from the top on down), which would be a good thing for NASCAR if they did (as evidenced by all the empty seats at Dover last week). They would see that the line for the "hated" Digger merchandise and the number of people wearing that merchandise was remarkable, even scary. I wonder why those fans at the track are clearly so out of touch with NASCAR.
But of course memory is fleeting. Last year the howling here about TNT started the first race. Take away racebuddy, (those of you with dial-up need not worry) which isn't even technically part of the actual TV HD broadcast and you'd have to wear earplugs around here.
And to be happy about a feature promoted by an obnoxious animated character, which is out of synch with the rest of the broadcast, has a dorky lap counting voice, and is exceptionally low quality compared to the HD feed of the race, priceless.
I go to 2-3 races every year...since Digger has been around, I haven't seen a single item being worn by anyone, nor did I ever notice the trailer (it had to be there, I must've just missed it.)
Anyways, I turned away from the race cause I couldn't take another beating a Cup guy & his big bucks. Sounds like I missed a smashingly bad finale...
Rick Hendrick, despite Kyle's great promise, dumped this guy. He realized Kyle could never be a person of character like his other drivers. Probably could foresee that he would never fit in with the rest of the organization. Sometimes, it's just not worth the disruption.
Not a Kyle hater, just choosing not to like his behavior. Anyway, how fortuitous that Kyle Petty visited Martin Guitar this week...can't wait to see the broadcast, lol.
and oh, btw...thank you to the other 'glenn' for defending sports car racing. It is an acquired taste, as he said, but like NASCAR, doesn't always produce the drama some might prefer. And the broadcasting is always first rate.
first up: anon@7:33am: i most certainly DO go to races and i found your comment condescending and rude. i was at dover on friday AND saturday and did not see long lines at the digger hauler. as i noted that weekend, i saw only 2 digger t-shirts being worn, both by men in their late 50s or early 60s. those buying merchandise at the haulers were, without exception, older adults.
we can disagree and still be civil about it. i don't expect anyone to agree with me but i never attack fellow posters as being uninformed or being a "whiner(s)" who doesn't "actually go to races." you would be well-served to do the same.
my only comment on young mr busch's attempt at being a rock star: i didn't like it when townsend would do it, either. doesn't matter to me what sam bass says or how many guitars young mr busch buys from him to make up for his actions. to me, it's just wrong.
i hated that townsend felt it had to do it b/c it was his "signature move" and i detest that someone in nascar has done it as well. young mr busch wasn't alive when townsend was trashing his instrument on stage: i was and i saw it happen. it wasn't fun and it wasn't cool. and if, by some incredible mis-step, my driver decided to do something like that, i'd be just as disgusted by the action as i am now.
as for racebuddy: well, i'll be there! i enjoyed it immensely last year and am looking forward to it today. unfortunately, we may have to take a road trip this afternoon so i may only be with youse guys for about an hour or so of the race. as usual, no pre-race for this fan.
JD, I LOVE that pic of Kyle and the guitar. That smile says it all.
Sam Bass is one of the nicest men I ever met. Very gracious, very low-key. I have quite a collection of his signed work, and couldn't even think about destroying any of it.
As for SDDD and the guitar smash, his grand-standing does not impress me. If he wanted the crew to have a piece of the trophy, it could have been taken to the shop and quietly cut up.
Anon at 7:33, up until last year, I attended from 4 to 7 races a year all over the country.
And if my favs had done the guitar smash, I'd be just as angry.
I'll bite was is SDDD?
Tks.JD. Ron Il.
Annon 733. Like Red I was also at Dover and I was there for the cup race. I saw 1 count'em 1 Digger shirt, this was on an older female. Did see the Digger trailer and trust me there was no crowd. Perhaps if you had read some of the previous posting you would have realized you were totally misinformed. Hey try using a real name next time.
On topic I just finished watching the NW race. Earlier in the race JP commented on the coveted Gibson Guitar, guess not. AB's recaps were the only thing that saved this race coverage and he seemed almost speechless after the smash. I really would have liked to have heard from Marc Davis or at least his crew chief but I thought Brendon handled his side of the interview well. I wish DJ would have been there.
Anon 7:33AM,
Not too sure which website you are talking about. The 2008 TNT coverage was the best of the season.
The changes from 2007 were amazing. How they will do this year is yet to be seen.
ESPN's original NASCAR Director Mike Wells is back for TNT calling the shots and he is the only one of the three Directors who follows the action and not the leaders.
Hopefully, these six races will throw down a challenge for Fox and ESPN to change the way they cover the sport or continue to suffer declines in ratings.
JD
Words cannot describe the disgust I feel about KB - I am speechless.
TNT would be good without Weber....
Rutledge Wood on Twitter:
To have that guitar, and I think it's great to share a win with the team, but he could have taken it home and given everyone a piece....
Not just smash the thing to it's death.He's a great driver and always nice to me, but I wish he had not done that.I'd love a Gibson Les Paul.
And I get that Sam's cool with it people,but if Toyota gave him a new car, he wouldn't have run it into a wall, would he?Coolest trophy made.
@Mary - I agree that Weber is definitely the weak link in TNT's coverage. I'd love to see Allen Bestwick or Mike Joy instead.
Anon733 I used to go 5-6 times a year, so you are soo very wrong & rude. Do not even think we here don't go to races. Read the posts!
The only " howling"
was to get it to work the first race, & the real howling was once it was gone go back & read the archives.
Kenny Wallace is just being very strange this season on RaceDay.
Michael Waltrip:
Its just a guitar people. they can make more. its not like its the harley earl trophy.
More to come on RD about SDDD, Shrubba Dubba Ding Dong @ Anon 9:28.
Did anyone read the article about Sam Bass on N.com? When Carl E won the guitar, he called Sam to thank him for such a cool trophy. Sam was touched. Paraphrasing here.
Good Morning! I see that the Golden State Warriors aren't the only organization to have their PR flacks post as fans on message boards. ;)
Had a blast at the IRL race last night. Great crowd of about 90,000 and that was with a huge crowd to see the first event at the new Cowboys stadium at the same time.
Glad I missed Kyle's latest stunt. The days of rock guitarists smashing up equipment are long gone and even back then they used junk guitars to do it. Thank goodness it wasn't a PRS or a Strat at least. :)
Looking forward to using RaceBuddy full time today since HotPass is DOA.
I was very shocked when I saw Kyle through guitar to the ground and broke it. It is a disgrace to other fellow drivers, disrespect to Sam Bass.
Here's an excerpt from Kyle B's conversation after he smashed the guitar:
"All them sorry saps, they take it home in one piece and put it on their shelf, man. "
So the past winners are "sorry saps", Kyle B? Just another example of his disrespect for his fellow drivers and those who came before him.
I hope TNT will at least comment on the incident during their telecast.
And JD, we love the pic of Kyle Petty!!!
P.S. Was able to log on under my screen name last night - today it says my password is wrong again. I'm SrRaceFan - not hiding behind Anon....
I'm not looking forward to the TNT crew. I did a little SCCA Road Racing in a prior life, but Wally and Boris Said just don't have the relevant Nascar experience to pass judgement on drivers far more accomplished then they are in a venue they have no real experience in. I tired of Kyle Petty years ago. Ditto for Weber-- Good broadcasting voice and he has all the phrases down pat,but no depth. Kenny Wallace is just an embarrassment to listen to. I read that KB ordered two more guitars for himself and his crew chief. I wouldn't have done it, but he did what he said he would do. Lets be honest, to the KB haters,he'll never get credit for anything he does. All I know is that Nascar races would be really boring without him!
I wouldn't expect anything else from Mikey, about par for the course from him.
I was surprised that TNT originally kept Wally in the new TV contract. My guess was that Kyle and Bill were going to be joined by Larry McReynolds in the booth.
But, TNT wanted to have an expert and a cutaway car, so Larry stays in the infield.
I agree that Wally is like Boris on TV, not a lot of cred. Boris emailed me and said he tests for tons of teams in the COTs. I told him to tell us that when he is on TV.
But Wally, is not in the sport and is deeply involved in his outdoors TV career. He is a smart guy and it should be interesting to see how he handles this season.
JD
"to all my new peeps! thanks KW"
Michael Waltrip on Twitter after Kenny Wallace gave out his mw55 address and told everyone to add him.
Congrats to Robby for winning the Baja 500, we'll see how much jet lag he has for the Nascar race.
One of the most common complaints about Nascar is thast the driverts are all a bunch of PC (and I hate that term) robots. What would be more "PC" than grinning stupidly, holding the trophy, and taking it to cut up behind closed doors? Everybody wants rebels, but they want the rebels on THEIR terms, rebeling THEIRE way, against what THEY want the rebels to be against.
I'm 37, but very rarfely feel it. One of the times I do is when we get a new 20-21 year old intern at work, or when I'm in a graduate class with someoen who just finished their BA or BS three months earlier. Then I realize that other than some professional interests, I have zero in common with these people. We don't know the same music, movies, television shows or anything else. Some have aunts and uncles yournger than me. To people who are actually young I'm quickly becomming one of the old folks. Kyle B is probably a good two generation younger than many Nascar fans and I suspect if their was a forum dominated by fans 15-30 there would be a very different reaction.
I've seen no mention here of how Shrub is perhaps the only driver EVER to find a way to share a single trophy with his crew. Yeah, that sounds like such a punk thing to do ....
And what exactly is kyle rebelling against? How "The Man" is keeping him down by paying him tens of millions every year? Forcing him to live in the lap of luxury with everyone kissing his -insert body part of your choice here- ? All of the commentators on NASCAR tv and radio who fall over themselves praising his every action?
Yes indeed he is being oppressed.
Funny that RD is over when TNTs prerace show starts. Didn't RD overlap FOXs prerace a few times? Is this just today or for the next 6 weeks?
@ bevo, too funny.
From JGR PR guys:
Your comments on last night's win and victory celebration been sent to the appropriate people at JGR. Congrts to 18 team & driver!
I'm sure we'll get one of those non-apology apologies out of Gibbs. "Sorry to those who might have been offended".
Are they NOT gonna talk about SDDD's antics last nite on RD??
@ PammH, yes they are. JR defending KyB.
Pete was also drunk and doing massive amounts of drugs when he smashed his guitars.
Any clue as to why John Roberts would say the things he just said on RaceDay?
I just lost all respect for John Roberts. He is out of touch. As for SDDD, I've got more class in my little pinky finger than he has in his whole body. What a jerk.
When you say Kyle Petty cut is TV teeth on "Tradin' Paint," isn't that a bit of a misstatement. I remember years ago Dr. Punch, Kyle, and BP would call Busch Grand National (as then called) races on ESPN and ESPN2, which means he's been at it a long time, even if there was a hiatus in there - ESPN thought Kyle was a suitable fill-in for Ned Jarrett, which says volumes about him.
What in the world is JR thinking?? At least Jimmy had the rite 'tude.
And Ryan Reynolds would be...???
Heck we had Shaq at last night's race.
Jeff Gluck on Ryan Reynolds at Pocono:
Always feel bad when celebs (Ryan Reynolds today, Chris Tucker 2 yrs ago) come to Pocono. This is their only #NASCAR exp. & the track sucks!
Thank you, Jimmy Spencer!
As for John Roberts, who can say what's going through his mind? Maybe he's the one who is one pitstall short of a full pitroad.
Daly Planet Editor said...
Any clue as to why John Roberts would say the things he just said on RaceDay?
June 7, 2009 12:04 PM
JD, one word - script. What Roberts said sounded almost verbatim from one of David's posts last night. Someone had to set up the segment, and Roberts was tagged.
I am just as shocked at what John Roberts just said as I am at what Kyle Busch did.
Roberts has just changed his image in my mind and he was very forceful and arrogant about it.
Did you see Spencer's face when Roberts called him "an old fuddy-duddy?"
What I want to know is, how many other trophies has SDDD cut up to share with his crew? If this was his SOP, I could almost understand it.
Did you notice when they asked JJ and Mark M about the double file restarts they said that it was good for the fans? I don't think they're too thrilled about it. And, of course SDDD had to mention who they can wreck.
@ bevo, Ryan Reynolds is an actor who is starring in a new movie with Sandra Bullock. I think it's The Proposal.
@ Labbie, I got that impression too.
Wow, I guess I just don't get it. I don't see what the big deal is with Kyle TRYING to(cause the thing didn't break at 1st) & eventually smashing up a guitar, a guitar he won, HIS guitar. For all I care, he shoulda gone Hendrix with it & light it up. I guess I just don't get ppl telling other ppl what to do with their own property when it doesn't affect you. The responses so far, especially from another board have been IMO, ridiculous-some are going as far to say they're gonna contact JGR & so forth.
What I'm surprised at is that I haven't seen any responses about Brendan Gaughan's what could be taken as racist comments against Marc Davis. I know that Gaughan is a nobody, but at least I had nothing against him until last night. Rookies are going to make mistakes & from what I saw, it was Gaughan who ran into Marc. Regardless, I feel him insulting Marc, his father, & Howard University was totally uncalled for. Among other things, he questioned all their intelligence. It's ppl like Gaughan who causes situations like the Maurcia Grant incident. I feel Nascar has tried to improve race relations/their image, but it's ppl like Gaughan who's a liability. I will be contacting Nascar, RWR, Gaughan himself,etc. to let them how offended I am.
@ Anon 12:11, I hit send before I read yours. Too funny about the pit stall comment.
Thanks, Dot! It's SrRaceFan again. My login and password won't work this morning so guess I'll just identify myself at the beginning of my remarks.
Didn't like the Brendan Gaughn reaction either - way over the top! But I'm sticking with my outrage at Kyle's actions.
@Dot- my question still stands :)
JLee-
Totally missed the Gaughan comments last night as I didn't see the Nationwide race. But as someone who lives in the D.C. metro area, I can say that sort of comment would be both uncalled for and untrue.
This is the same Brandon Gaughan who is employed by Rusty Wallace, an ESPN commentator.
JR really stepped on it. It was NOT just a guitar, it was a work of art and a man put a lot of his heart in that artwork. For Busch trashing that work of art, it was the most rude and stupid move I have seen in any sport.
Sorry JR, you are as stupid as busch.
JLee,
I appreciate your comments and you are welcome to make them.
A large slice of NASCAR is history. You can call the Indy 500 trophy just a big cup if you want. You can call the green jacket for the Masters just a coat.
Nashville does not have a Sprint Cup Series race. This is it for the NASCAR racing. The trophy was the subject of a NASCAR.com story and was again in all the newspapers.
Sam Bass was on hand to take a Victory Lane pic with the winner and the trophy, which he hand-painted.
If you understand and appreciate history, perhaps you have one view. If you are new to the sport or a casual fan, perhaps you may have another.
Let me just ask one thing. Can you suggest one other NASCAR driver who would smash a guitar that was the trophy in Music City USA?
My mind comes up a bit empty on that one.
JD
Super 8 has now become the most annoying ad on NASCAR tv
@ JLee, Marc was going to the garage without signaling. Brendan was still in the race. It's like when you turn left in front of me on the road. Yeah, I hit you, but you caused me to. Same difference.
@ Anon 12:23, did you mean John Roberts stepped "in" it? lol
JLee,
When a driver comes down pit road to turn into the garage, he normally sticks his hand out the window and points toward the garage opening.
This lets the other crews and officials know he is going to turn left and go directly into the garage. Unfortunately, Marc did not do this.
BG was upset and rather than rant he tried to suggest that as a college graduate, like himself, Marc should have signaled.
If you try to dig for something more in those comments, you are going to come up empty.
JD
Just turned on TNT's countdown - see we have a new song to hate by the end of the day
Bill H
No clue to why SPEED is running long today past 12:30PM.
Ended at 12:30 for me on DTV - did you rewind JD?
You sure you're not timeshifted JD?
Wrecked is on mine (right on time)
Sorry you're having a problem, JD
@ JD, did you pause the DVR?
Got ya, could be my lovely DVR operator. She is fired! OK...maybe not.
OK, the new post is up for the TNT coverage of Pocono today!
let's have fun!
JD
This is not rock and roll, and if Busch wants to behave like that, then maybe he needs to leave Nascar. This dodo is not Axel Rose of Guns and Roses.
I loved Jimmy Spencer on Race Day for taking the Shrub to task for what he did.
Busch was disrespectful to the organizers of the race, to the makers of the guitar and to Sam Bass who spent many hours painting the guitar. If Shrub wanted to share the guitar with his team, he could have opened his wallet and bought guitars for them.
So the new rules for double file restarts also changes the rules for the trapping cars on the tail end of the lead lap situation?
That actually changes race conditions and pit stop strategy far more than the double file restarts. The whole pitting out of sequence to get fuel on a caution flag to trap the good cars a lap down process will change.
I watched most of the truck with mild interest Friday night and watched hardly any of the Nationwide race. Maybe 10 laps' worth.
The bit with KB smashing the guitar does not sit well with me. I do not play but am an old-school music fan and have always admired Les Paul and the history behind his masterpiece creations as well as the musicians who play Les Paul guitars. I think that what KB did was so disrespectful that there aren't enough words for it.
How were Brendan's Comments racist? It was more of a shot on basic knowledge (quickly slowing down lane and a half out then cutting across an incoming car) and managed to get a dig in on his college. Being a college graduate like both of them are, schools are always thrown 'under the bus' for digs.
Pertaining to the Kyle Busch guitar smashing incident. Like a lot of people I was outraged and was ready to condemn him for another classless act. Instead I decided to read into it from a different perspective. I think it was part media stunt and part making good on a promise to his crew. While I still don't like seeing a beautiful guitar destroyed, I understand that was pre-planned.
I was very upset with kyle Busch's actions at Nashville, It makes ok for kids to break up their toys. If an adult can do this so can children. He did not think this through. If he wanted to do this it should not have been done on National TV. If he wanted to give his crew a piece of the trophy, he sould have bought them each a real guitar and have it painted by Sam Bass. I can't wait to see what he will do with a Martinsville CLock or any other special trophy
As if I needed another reason to dislike KB. His sickening display last night was just beyond the pale. How could he be that disrespectful to Sam Bass, not to mention ruining a beautiful guitar?
I love Kyle Petty, though, and I'm enjoying listening to him today.
The Busch brothers are the best thing to happen to Nascar in the last few years.. I think bashing that dopey guitar and giving pieces to his crew is awesome. Go Kyle.
Wow, Vyle strikes again. All the talent in the race car and not one wit of sense off of it. I'm sure that his motivation at this point is to simply rub everyone's nose in it that isn't liked. Guess that's OK - I simply try NOT to watch any race that he's in so that means I don't watch much Nationwide. I really enjoyed the truck race -- NO Mikey!
Mikey's comment about Kyle's behavior -- well, that is about Waltrip's speed, so I'm not surprised.
Love the picture of Petty with the guitar -- i know where CF Martin Guitar is so that makes it very cool for me.
Also, I was at Dover, too and saw a few people standing at the Digger trailer but not too many of them buying. Me, I just shook my head and walked on by -- I felt the same way about the Ricky Bobby stuff -- Why would I spend my money on stuff for a fictional character? So I didn't.
I will be interested to see how the broadcast goes on Sunday -- it's a shame that Weber is still in the booth. Major fly in the ointment in my opinion.
am i the only person that actually likes wally dallenbach? i'll drops my two cents on the kyle bushleague stuff...in the past..thier have been many "goodguys" and "badguys" in nascar..the difference between the badguys of old and the the badguy kyle wants to be is..the old guard respected the sport..kyle is just a self centered sociopathic brat..i havent been to a live race since i lived in the U.S from 97'-04'..i was lucky enough to go to the bristol races of 97 and 98 and the michigan race of 02'..i'm back in canada now and to go to a race would cost me more than i can afford..travel..tickets..lodging..we are looking at thousands of dollars...i rpefer to eat food and have my lights turn on each day..HA!..so..i'll sit at home..watching nascar..falling asleep midway thru as the spec cars go around ..usually in freight train fashion..with the odd spice of mystery debris on the track or homages to cartoon rodents...and whine about it!!!..been watching nascar since the late 60's..old wide world of sports segments thru to the first fullr aces shown to now..i dont know why i've stuck to it all these years..it just isnt fun anymore
As a citizen of Nashville, and being in attendance for Saturday nights race, I have to say that what Kyle Busch did in Victory Lane was the most disrespectful slap in the face to the city of Nashville and to the fans of NASCAR. While I certainly agree that the guitar is not the holy grail of trophies, it is representative of Music City and very special in our eyes. To witness someone take a gift that was given to the winner and smash it on the ground was truly insulting.
JD, you are right, why ESPN didn't call him out on this boorish behavior was beyond me. Dave Burns, in my opinion looked disgusted. Having stood in Victory Lane, I witnessed several photographers immediately leave following the classless act.
Having watched the race first hand, you would not believe how he got around the track. TV really did it no justice.
But, what happened in Victory Lane Saturday was disdainful and Dover Motorsports should refuse to have a new trophy made. In fact, they should ban him from all future Nashville races until he apologizes to the Speedway, it’s employees and fans.
Personally, I hope that NASCAR Now, Tradin' Paint or even Dave Despain calls Joe Gibbs out on this one and ask him to explain how he can employ such a disrespectful low life like Kyle Busch. Sure, he wins. I get that, but he certainly lowers the bar of excellence that Coach Gibbs always preaches.
And you guys that laugh it off as no big deal should rethink your stance. What would you say if someone took something special to you and threw it on the ground right in front of your eyes? You would be pissed too.
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