Kyle Busch clears the air about Dale Jr.’s “publicity” comment

Kyle Busch explained his controversial take on Dale Earnhardt Jr. serving as a crew chief this weekend. The 40-year-old said he wasn't personally attacking Dale Jr., but instead pointed out that suspending a crew chief is “silly” amid advancements in communication technologies.

For context, Busch said in a pre-race interview at Pocono Raceway that Dale Jr. would just be a warm body on top of the pit box. He argued that suspended crew chiefs can still communicate with the team on and off the track, and called his former NASCAR rival's role in the #88 JR Motorsports team a publicity stunt.

Kyle Busch later clarified his statement on X. The #8 Richard Childress Racing driver wrote:

“This has nothing to do with any animosity towards Dale Jr. I’m referencing how silly the suspensions for cc (crew chief) are these days with all the technology they have to stay in contact with their teams. I’d say the same thing if JG (likely Jeff Gordon) went on an HMS (Hendrick Motorsports) box as a cc.”

While Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. appear to be on good terms today, the two had on-track run-ins, especially in the late 2000s. It was a time when Busch was replaced by Dale Jr. in Hendrick Motorsports, forcing him to move to Joe Gibbs Racing.

This year marks the RCR driver's 21st full-time season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Dale Jr., on the other hand, retired in 2017 and focused on being a co-owner of JR Motorsports alongside Rick Hendrick and his sister, Kelley Earnhardt-Miller.

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“Purely my fault”: Kyle Busch on early race-ending mistake in Mexico City

Kyle Busch is coming off a DNF from NASCAR's inaugural Mexico City race last week. The Chevrolet driver spun out on lap eight and collected several drivers, including Kyle Larson, who got off the race track with him. He admitted the multi-car wreck was his fault for misjudging the braking zone approaching turn one.

After Busch got out of his car at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, he told veteran NASCAR reporter Bob Pockrass:

“I went to the brakes and just ice. Maybe it was a little bit too heavy of a brake spike. Just turned around backwards and spun out backwards. Hate it for all the guys that got involved because it was, obviously, purely my fault. I don’t know what I could have done differently.”

The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion added:

“I broke at the 10 marker. It’s not like I was trying to break at the six. I was in trouble for a good second or two, and then I was like, ‘I am going to nail some people so I better turn around backwards, and at least try to soften the blow.”

The DNF in Mexico City further hurt his chances of returning to the playoffs after missing the postseason last year. Kyle Busch has dropped outside the top 16 as he enters the Great American Getaway 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday.

The 160-lap race at the Tricky Triangle will be live on Amazon Prime at 2:00 p.m. ET. It will be the last race before NASCAR kicks off the In-Season Challenge at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway).

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Edited by Sumeet Kavthale