Just Sayin’: Kyle Busch Needs to Cool His Jets

By Jared Turner

When Kyle Busch wrecked out of Sunday’s Daytona 500, it was a disappointing end to what had been a promising day for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver. Busch, still seeking his first triumph in the sport’s biggest race, had won the first stage, and — despite being a lap down by virtue of being on a different pit sequence from the leaders — stood an excellent chance of contending for the win. But all that changed when a tire failure sent his Toyota spinning abruptly in the middle of the pack, collecting multiple teammates along with Dale Earnhardt Jr. In the garage moments later, Busch blamed the sport’s tire manufacturer for the blowout, claiming that “Goodyear tires aren’t very good at holding air.” Interestingly, however, Busch was the only notable driver who suffered a tire failure during the race. So are we really to believe that Goodyear is as inept as the 2015 premier series champ would have us to think? Or could it actually be that Busch felt the tire going down and opted to stay on track, hoping for the best? If so, then Goodyear isn’t really to blame for the accident — Busch is the one to blame. Either way, we’re just one race into a long season and it seems a tad early for one of the sport’s biggest stars to already being throwing stones at the Official Tire of NASCAR – whose involvement in the sport dates back to three decades before he was even born.

Watch Your Mouth, Mikey

An unfiltered moment occurred during the Daytona 500 pre-race “Grid Walk” when Michael Waltrip used the word “ass” in front of a live TV audience. Waltrip, who was carrying out his duties as member of the FOX NASCAR on-air team before jumping in a race car for the final time, should be more cognizant of his audience and the time of the broadcast. After all, children are watching.