{"id":698813,"date":"2026-05-28T06:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/698813\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T06:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:52:10","slug":"kyle-busch-was-so-frustrated-by-how-nascar-fans-saw-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/698813\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch Was ‘So Frustrated’ By How NASCAR Fans Saw Him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kyle Busch was “so frustrated” with what NASCAR<\/a>‘s fan base thought of him. That’s what Dale Earnhardt Jr. thinks, anyway.<\/p>\n

Busch, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, was certainly known for his fire. Few drivers, if any, were more outspoken and passionate than Busch. Tragically, Busch died last week, at 41, from complications of pneumonia.<\/p>\n

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In the wake of Busch’s death, Dale Jr. is speaking out. He’s made it clear that he believes Busch was not happy with how NASCAR fans viewed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could take a stab at how I think Kyle thought, and what kind of person he was, he was so frustrated that he was kind of cast [as] the villain,\u201d\u00a0Dale Jr. said during the Tuesday, May 26, episode of his\u00a0\u201cDale Jr. Download\u201d podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Busch, whose brother, Kurt, also drivers in NASCAR, didn’t have the best reputation when he arrived in the sport.<\/p>\n

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\u201cKyle comes in and had been cast in a negative way, I remember him saying, like, \u2018That wasn’t fair. \u2026 People have made this assumption about me that wasn’t fair,\u2019\u201d Earnhardt recalled.<\/p>\n

\"Mar<\/p>\n

Mar 29, 2026; Martinsville, Virginia, USA; Richard Childress Racing driver Kyle Busch (8) during practice at Martinsville Speedway. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images\u00a9 Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

Earnhardt Jr. admitted that he and Busch didn’t get off to the best of start. They had a bit of a heated incident following their first Daytona 500 together.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said something over the roof of the car, like, \u2018Man, you better watch it. What you’re saying in the media.\u2019 I was like, \u2018What? That was weird. He’s mad?\u2019 He took that really personal; that was not that big of a deal,\u201d Earnhardt recalled. \u201cWe didn’t get off on the best foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Busch ‘wanted to be liked’<\/p>\n

\u201cKyle wanted to be liked. Kyle wanted to be a fan favorite. There’s fans of his listening to this show, going, \u2018He was a fan favorite. He had fans.\u2019 He didn’t love being the guy that they booed,\u201d Earnhardt added. \u201cHe didn’t want that. He didn’t choose [or] prefer to be polarizing. He kind of just had to embrace and lean into it at some point, so he did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Busch embraced it all, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think deep down in there, Kyle wanted affirmation. He wanted approval. He wanted people to recognize his statistics, his greatness, his wins,\u201d Earnhardt added. \u201cHe kept winning. He\u2019d win and win and win and look around and go, \u2018Look at what I’m doing. Where is the acknowledgement? Look at what I’ve done.\u2019 He wanted that, and we all weren’t as quick to give it to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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NASCAR continues to mourn Busch’s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur entire NASCAR family is heartbroken by the loss of Kyle Busch. A future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled and he cared deeply about the sport and fans. Throughout a career that spanned more than two decades, Kyle set records in national series wins, won championships at NASCAR\u2019s highest level and fostered the next generation of drivers as an owner in the Truck Series. His sharp wit and competitive spirit sparked a deep emotional connection with race fans of every age, creating the proud and loyal \u2018Rowdy Nation.\u2019 Our thoughts are with Samantha, Brexton and Lennix, Kyle and Samantha\u2019s parents, Kurt and all of Kyle\u2019s family, Richard and Judy Childress, everyone at Richard Childress Racing, his teammates, friends and fans. NASCAR lost a giant of the sport today, far too soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring this incredibly difficult time, we ask everyone to respect the family\u2019s privacy and continue to keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Further updates will be shared as appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the NASCAR<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyle Busch was “so frustrated” with what NASCAR‘s fan base thought of him. That’s what Dale Earnhardt Jr.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":698814,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,14056,8661,634,9536,82],"class_list":["post-698813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dale-earnhardt-jr","tag-kyle-busch","tag-nascar","tag-richard-childress-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/698814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}