Tony Stewart used to be the bad boy of NASCAR, but he earned his “right” to be bad boy by backing up his arrogance with championships. Tony would call situations exactly how he saw them, and it was left up to the fans to agree or disagree!
Denny Hamlin has proven himself worthy of being a Cup driver, not only by significant wins and top 10 finishes, but by never projecting arrogance to the point of fans booing him.
Yes, Joe Gibbs Racing had engine failures during the All Star race of 2008. However JGR may experience bigger failures in the future if Kyle Busch continues to ransack fellow drivers on the race track. There will always be room for deferring opinions within NASCAR as this is the fuel that powers our sport! One’s person’s opinion is just that; their opinion. Not right, not wrong… their opinion. IF we all agreed this would be a pretty boring sport and would soon become a sport of the past.
Tony Stewart has done his fair share of bump, runs and wrecks, accompanied by booing, but in the long term, he knew when to stop pushing the envelope and walk that fine line to success. Tony Stewart is far from mellow, but at least he has obtained a class act standard within all forms of racing from dirt tracks to high banks, from track owner to driver!
Denny always goes quietly into his race car and keeps his emotions in check for the most part. Success can be obtained within racing without the blatant arrogance.
There are other ways to succeed in NASCAR besides being arrogant and egging the fans on to boo upon introduction. Gone are the days of the one and only Intimidator when all of this was acceptable! This sport is changing for the better in many aspects, and in turn the drivers are changing with the times. They have, too!
NASCAR has many drivers that have “fire and spirit” in their soul… thank goodness most of them take a quieter, more professional approach than Kyle!
For every action, there is a reaction from race to race and season to season…
Each driver within any racing series must blaze their own trail with their own distinct, yet individual personality. The drivers’ differing personalities is what makes NASCAR so exciting, especially when accompanied by all the media and fan differing personalities!
America… founded on a principle of freedom of speech… the ingredient of life that we ALL take for granted!
Until next time….
Robyn Snell
Senior Staff
I don’t see the problem a lot of people have with Kyle Busch. He is a very good driver and gets out there to win. And to call Stewsrt and Hamlin classy drivers, well that is a big laugh. Both have caused accidents and have always blamed someone else. That’s not class. Another I find ironic is that most of the fans that are crying over Kyle’s driving are the ones that loved it when Dale Sr. was doing it. Mark my words Kyle Busch is going to be one of the great all-time drivers in NASCAR before his career is over.
“There are other ways to succeed in NASCAR besides being arrogant and egging the fans on to boo upon introduction. Gone are the days of the one and only Intimidator when all of this was acceptable!”
“NASCAR has many drivers that have “fire and spirit” in their soul… thank goodness most of them take a quieter, more professional approach than Kyle!”
Well, it seems to me that you think that certain ways of being in NASCAR died along with Dale. I didn’t get that memo. That is too bad. I always liked the fact that NASCAR had a place for everybody. That as long as you could drive, were of age and passed their tests, you could drive. I think the same rules apply at the DMV, too. I know quite a few people that should have to take a personality test at the DMV, but that is NOT part of the DMV’s criteria. Funny how things go, eh? Just like me, today, thinking I was gonna read an article on Tony Stewart and something classy he had done. Why did I think that? Well yes, the title sorta did lead me to believe that. And yes, it did end up being just ANOTHER Kyle bashing article, no big. I don’t think I’ll take it out on MotorSportNews tho. That is just the way some people like to write. I’ll respect that…..
I began watching NASCAR when Tony was causing so much trouble back in 2002. When Kyle was announced to come over JGR it was fine by me because it gave me another “bad boy” to root for. Kyle races hard and he races with a passion. I too was surprised that this was another Kyle bashing article. After Richmond I went out and bought a Kyle shirt – my husband who is Jr fan wasn’t real happy though.
at age 62, I have been a racing fan for over 50 years
and I would rather listen to guys like tony and kyle
voice their opinions (or not) over the johnson & gordon type any day not that they all aren’t good drivers but come on, put some life into it!!
NASCAR and the big bucks has ruin what once was a great sport.