NASCAR: Why the latest Kyle Busch snafu is a nothingburger

The chaos surrounding Kyle Busch following Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener literally means nothing in the long run.

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff opener wasn’t the first race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway won by Martin Truex Jr. It also wasn’t the first race at the track won by Truex while all of the post-race attention was centered around Kyle Busch.

Busch’s race appeared to be over early on after he made contact with the wall, but he battled back from two laps off the lead lap to put himself in a position to finish this 267-lap South Point 400 around the four-turn, 1.5-mile (2.414-kilometer) Las Vegas Motor Speedway oval in Las Vegas, Nevada in the top five.

But late in the race, he got into the back of the #52 Rick Ware Racing Ford driven by Garrett Smithley, causing him to lose all kinds of track position and finish one lap off the lead lap.

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The 34-year-old Las Vegas native was fortunate to not either wreck or have to come into the pits again (or both), and he wound up finishing in 19th place.

Busch proceeded to rip backmarker drivers and called the fact that some of them are even competing in the Cup Series “pathetic”, and he took his rant to social media after completely blowing off the media with more remarks that illustrated his frustration.

Smithley and fellow backmarker Joey Gase of MBM Motorsports both defended their positions as backmarker drivers driving for underfunded teams.

After Busch ripped them on Twitter for saying what they said, they both shared lengthy statements on Twitter illustrating why they are competing in the Cup Series and the battles that they’ve had to win just to get there.

But with all due respect to Smithley and Gase, let’s ask the question that needs to be asked.

Why are cars running 12 to 20 laps off the lead lap the leading storyline of a Cup Series race — a Cup Series playoff race, no less?

This is a nothingburger being played up because Kyle Busch is involved, and it’s not hard to see it. When a lapped car wrecked race leader (and at that point, race dominator) Ryan Blaney at Bristol Motor Speedway last April, this discussion did not take place.

It’s that simple.

I keep hearing how publicizing Busch’s actions and Busch-related controversy are “good for NASCAR“, even though the actions being discussed were fairly ridiculous and out-of-line responses to those just trying to do their jobs.

Look at history, whether it’s sports, world news, politics, etc. The events that get the most coverage and reaction are negative events, certainly not those you’d consider “good for the (insert people affected)”.

Kyle Busch has an entertainment value unlike any other driver. I get that, and on many levels, that can be good for the sport.

But this situation, even ignoring the fact that some of Busch’s quotes were over-the-top, means absolutely nothing — of course, aside of what has been really good publicity for the underfunded Smithley and Gase.

Four-time champion Jeff Gordon even questioned this whole “good for the sport” concept.

Why does this mean nothing?

In short, because Busch’s “insurance premiums” aren’t going up, despite what he joked about after the incident.

Even after this disaster of a race, he sits 36 points above the round of 12 cut line with two races remaining in the round of 16, thanks in large part to the fact that he accrued a series-high 30 playoff points throughout the regular season and an additional season-high 15 playoff points for becoming the regular season champion.

His 19th place finish in the South Point 400 was the NASCAR equivalent of Tom Brady throwing an interception in the first quarter of an AFC Divisional Round playoff game.

The guy had a bad race and will more than likely barely, if at all, be affected by it in the long run.

It’s not like he  lost his chance to win the race due to the incident being discussed. Joey Logano collected one playoff point for winning stage one while Martin Truex Jr. collected one for winning stage two and an additional five for winning the race. Kyle Busch’s contact with Garrett Smithley changed none of this.

Yet social media is ablaze over this nothingburger simply because Busch’s name is attached to it.