Kyle Busch Takes Savage Dig at Dale Earnhardt Jr. Before Xfinity Crew Chief Debut

Two times NASCAR Cup champion gave a fair verdict on Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. debut as Xfinity Series crew chief.

Kyle Busch Takes Savage Dig at Dale Earnhardt Jr. Before Xfinity Crew Chief Debut

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch (Via IMAGO)

Two times NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a special weekend at Pocono Raceway. He made his debut as a national series crew chief, with Conor Zilisch’s No:88 Chevy crew chief absent. Junior’s former rival Kyle Busch though wasn’t as excited about it and took a brutal dig at his rival.

The Richard Childress Racing veteran in his media session during the qualifying was asked about his expectations and feelings about Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s crew chief debut. He was brutally honest about it and pointed out that it is just a publicity stunt, as the veteran racer is going just sit on the team pit-box without doing anything significant.

The original crew chief of the No:88 team was more involved with the decision, connecting with them digitally back from their race shop. Kyle Busch joked that he could just do that same for his truck team and sit in the pit-box as the crew chief will be involved, making the calls for him regardless.

It’s all publicity, but spin it how you want it. [Earnhardt Jr.] is just going to be a warm body sitting on top of the box. You know, they’ve got enough stuff from the shop and enough technology these days of being able to have the crew chief still involved. So, um, I could say I could do the same thing with one of my truck teams, but the guys at the shop would be the ones handling it.

Kyle Busch told Dalton Hopkins of Frontstretch.

Further talking about the point, Busch admitted that despite it being more of a marketing move, it isn’t still great to see the most famous racer in the sports’ history getting involved with his team like that. And at the end of the day Conor Zilisch produced a impressive run, won the game defeating the likes of Chase Elliott, taking Junior to the victory lane on his debut.

Still, great, you know, cool. Eyeballs, and putting some attention on their team, and stuff like that. I mean, JRM is one of the top two, three teams in the Xfinity Series. So, let the best man win.

Kyle Busch added.

Kyle Busch explains himself after misunderstanding

Though the comments from Kyle Busch was more of fair assessment of the situation and jokes, some in the racing community didn’t see it that way. Some saw it as Busch being bitter and showing animosity, producing backlash.

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch (Via @KyleBusch/X)

This forced the veteran went to X (previously Twitter) and shared his thoughts on the backlash. He isn’t backing down from his claim and pointed out that he was just highlighting how pointless the crew chief suspension is. Busch would have made the same comment if it was Jeff Gordon doing the same.

This has nothing to do with any animosity towards Dale Jr. I’m referencing how silly the suspensions for crew chiefs are these days with all the technology they have to stay in contact with their teams. I’d say the same thing if [Jeff Gordon] went on a [Hendrick Motor Sports] box as a crew chief.

Kyle Busch wrote on X.

The comments from Kyle Busch seems rational and the current suspensions seems pointless. The best thing for NASCAR to do in these situations is to give more fines, as disciplinary action instead. Dale Jr. won’t be unhappy about Kyle Busch’s comments but might take some hilariously friendly jibe at the veteran after the victory.

Also Read: Christopher Bell Confesses That People Start To “Dislike Him” After Getting into NASCAR