NASCAR: Top 5 most annoying driver fanbases

By Asher Fair | Aug 12, 2017

FORT WORTH, TX - APRIL 07: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 TaxAct Ford, and Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 7, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /

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WATKINS GLEN, NY – AUGUST 06: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, walks on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 6, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

WATKINS GLEN, NY – AUGUST 06: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M’s Caramel Toyota, walks on the grid during qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series I Love NY 355 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on August 6, 2017 in Watkins Glen, New York. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

#2 – Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, No. 18 Toyota

Kyle Busch’s fanbase is annoying due to the fact that they defend the idiotic things he does no matter how idiotic they are. No matter how childish he acts, they defend him while ignoring the fact that he like every other professional athlete is supposed to be a role model for young fans. He is known for his idiotic actions both on and off the track, so that weighs heavily into this ranking.

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First off, let’s start out by visualizing something. Imagine taking a young child, maybe four, five, six or seven years old, to a NASCAR Cup Series race. The child has never watched a NASCAR race before, but he wants to pick a car to root for. Who is that child going to pick? The Lowe’s car? The Nationwide car? The Mobil 1 car? No; that child is going to pick the M&M’s or the Skittles car, just like all of the other youngsters in the crowd would.

So when the driver of that car, Kyle Busch, starts acting up after the race and this child is watching it unfold before his eyes and he sees that all of Busch’s actions are being defended by his fanbase no matter how childish they are, what is this teaching the child?

Here are a few examples of what I’m referring to when I say his fans defend him no matter what. When he drilled Ron Hornaday Jr. into the wall at Texas a few years ago, they defended him.

When he attempted to attack Joey Logano in the pits at Las Vegas for an accident Logano clearly did not cause, they defended him. When he devalued Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s maiden Cup Series win by referring to Talladega as not a “real race track”, they also defended him. And when he dropped the mic after sarcastically congratulating Austin Dillon on his maiden Cup Series win at Charlotte, they defended him as well.

It gets old when a driver’s fans are so focused on defending their driver and keeping a perfect image of that driver in their minds that they can’t accept the fact that he isn’t perfect and is doing a terrible job of being a role model for young fans. Seeing as how Busch is probably in the limelight more than any other driver for his imperfections, the fact that his fans continue to defend his frequent idiotic actions makes his fanbase the #2 most annoying fanbase in the sport.