BRISTOL, Tenn. — Following Friday night’s NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway, tempers flared despite a winner being crowned.
While Austin Dillon won his first-ever race at the high-banked concrete behemoth, all eyes and ears were tuned to the renewed rivalry between two Sprint Cup Champions — Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.
It seems whenever they race around each other, each one always seem to find himself angry at the other one.
Especially at Bristol.
Inside of 10 to go, both Busch and Keselowski were racing as hard as they could for the race victory, with Keselowski running the top lane around the race track and Busch glued to the bottom.
With five laps left, Busch thought he had cleared Keselowski off of turn two and tried to move up in front of his nemesis, perhaps forcing Keselowski to check up and lose speed.
Unfortunately, he was not clear off the corner as Keselowski got a surge of momentum from the high line and Busch came across the nose of the No. 22, ultimately ending his chance at the win when his right front tire blew moments later after the heavy contact with both Keselowski and the wall.
Leaving the track, Busch did not mince words with reporters about his view of the incident, saying: “He (Keselowski) is a dirty driver.”
Keselowski later responded after also acknowledging that Busch had the better car Friday night.
“We race each other hard,’’ he said. “That’s what racing is all about. He would have done the same thing if he was in my shoes. I’m 100 percent certain. I guess we’re both dirty racers by that definition.’’
The two have had their run-ins in the past.
In 2010 a similar incident occurred at Bristol during the Friday night XFINITY race. Busch was low and Keselowski was high. The two met and both ended up going into the wall, only that time, Busch was looking for what he felt was retribution and delivered it to Keselowski.
The following day, Bristol gave Keselowski the microphone during driver introductions and much like Busch, he did not mince words and colorfully told the Bristol faithful how he felt about the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.
“I’m Brad Keselowski, and Kyle Busch is an (expletive).”
Add to that 2012 (when they tangled late in the Cup race at Watkins Glen and both lost out to Marcos Ambrose) and 2013 (when Busch dumped Keselowski in an XFINITY race at Kansas and Keselowski later declared “war” between the two) and this particular rivalry has been one that always seems to turn into a pressure cooker.
Though some might see this as another ‘Rowdy’ meltdown following a heated race, others might see it as two race car drivers who have nothing to lose and are fighting to the bitter end, both trying to claim the throne in his chariot at NASCAR’s ultimate coliseum.
Bristol has always shown what a narrow, half-mile fish bowl will do to a driver’s nerves. Even the most calm and collected have found themselves at the boiling point by race end.
It begs the question: is it all just classic short track racing? Or is Bristol a case of a driver having a massive ego trip?
Keep in mind, we’ve seen this play out before in multiple series over the years.
2002 saw the then-Busch Series again take center stage, as Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick tangled off turn four and Harvick lunged over Biffle’s car to give him an earful after the race.
In 2006, Matt Kenseth tagged Jeff Gordon around just before the white flag and sent Gordon into a fury, with the four-time champion shoving Kenseth after the race before taking his helmet off.
And of course, there’s the most famed of rivalries in Bristol history: Terry Labonte vs. Dale Earnhardt.
Earnhardt spinning Labonte across the line and still losing the race in 1995 led the way for their famed match-up in 1999, when Labonte delivered the bump-and-run coming to the white flag and Earnhardt “rattled his cage” coming to the checkered and spun Labonte in turns three and four.
The Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski feud is simply the latest in a long line of Bristol dramas that simply go down because it’s Bristol. That’s it. It’s always happened, and it always will. There’s a reason they call the place ‘The Last Great Coliseum’.
What happened Friday night is the same thing that will continue to happen as long as there is sport. Tempers will rise and sometimes words will be spoken in the heat of the moment. It’s a flashback to the days of the gladiator wars, a look into eras gone by.
Bristol is a place not for the weak of heart. It’s a place where the thick-skinned survive the longest. There’s no time for manners and there’s no chance to give a “please” and “thank you”. It’s a place where sharing is not caring and every man can only look out for themselves.
“Survival of the fittest” isn’t just a saying at the Tennessee bullring, it’s a way of life. Here, blood boils faster than water. You have no friends. Trust is scarce. The rough get rougher and the hits become more jarring.
The Busch vs. Keselowski renewal reminded us of all of those things and more on Friday night, but maybe it rekindled no more telling statement than this:
This isn’t an ordinary race. It’s Bristol, baby.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of Race Chaser Online, the Performance Motorsports Network, their sponsors or other contributors.
About the Writer
Rence Brown is Race Chaser Online’s West Coast-based correspondent, who currently resides in California and carries a deep passion for NASCAR, but is a follower of multiple forms of auto racing across multiple disciplines.
Brown, 23, is going back to school to pursue a journalism degree at Pierce College.
Email Rence at: [email protected]
Follow on Twitter: @RenceTheFence
Email Race Chaser Online: [email protected]
Follow RCO on Twitter: @RaceChaserNews
