Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kyle Busch on his emotions: ‘I guess I should care less’

nUDEmOFMDAZQ
Kyle Busch's demeanor at his postrace press conference drew criticism after he finished in second place at Charlotte.

DOVER, Del. — Kyle Busch says don’t blame him for his emotional outbursts, including his angry mic drop after last weekend’s runner-up finish in the Coca-Cola 600.

Blame genetics.

Or maybe blame a higher power.

“Different people show their emotions in different ways,’’ Busch said Friday after winning the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Dover International Speedway. “Unfortunately for me, mine has never been very gracious, and I don’t know that it ever will be.

“I’m kind of learning that as the days go on. My son is 2 years old. I see where it came from. It’s genetics. I’m sorry. It’s just who I am. That’s what I was given. If there is anybody to blame, it’s probably the guy upstairs.

“I can probably get better and go to training and classes and everything else, but I don’t know. It is the way it is. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been blessed to be in the opportunity that I’m in. I’ve got great sponsors and partners that are with me, and they’ve stuck with me through a lot worse than what happened this week and that’s through relationships.

“Those people that are close to me, understand me and know me and know who I am outside the race track as a personable person, as a friend. That’s why I’m able to continue to have the relationships and that sponsorships that I do.’’

His success also makes it easier to overlook any warts with his attitude when things don’t go well on the track.

Such was the case last weekend. Austin Dillon won the Coca-Cola 600 on a fuel-mileage gamble. Dillon’s first career Cup win denied Busch his first victory of the season. Busch heads into Sunday’s AAA 400 on a 28-race winless streak. He’s never gone more than 35 starts between Cup wins since his first series victory in 2005.

The frustration over the Charlotte loss built as Busch headed to the media center after doing interviews on pit road.

“I sat in my car for a few seconds and kind of dwelled on the loss a little bit extra before the TV interview,’’ Busch said. “Then got to the media center, that time kind of grew and I realized what we missed out on. That was an opportunity to be able to win a Coke 600. Driving as hard as you do for 600 miles and passing (Martin Truex Jr.), I thought that was for the win.

“Then watching (Jimmie Johnson) run out of fuel and hearing (Austin Dillon) was in front of us. You were hoping that he would run out for your own sake, but he didn’t. There’s nothing to take from (Dillon’s) win.

“That’s a marquee event. I’ve won two of them (Indianapolis and Darlington) and that would have been the third and would have only left the Daytona 500.’’

The 2015 Cup champion also was frustrated because he saw his chances of sweeping Charlotte end after having won the All-Star Race the week before.

“There were a lot of things kind of riding on the line that meant a lot to me and would have been special to me,’’ said Busch, who has 38 career Cup victories, 87 career Xfinity wins and 48 Truck victories. “I guess I should care less about those sort of things and not show that sort of emotion.’’

Follow @dustinlong and on Facebook