Fox announcers' reaction to Kyle Busch crash interview says it all

Richard Childress Racing's Kyle Busch crashed out of Sunday's Autotrader 400 NASCAR Cup Series race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway) during the second stage.

Busch got loose off of turn two of the four-turn, 1.54-mile (2.478-kilometer) Hampton, Georgia oval and washed up right in front of Front Row Motorsports' Noah Gragson.

The contact between Gragson's No. 4 Ford and Busch's No. 8 Chevrolet sent the No. 8 Chevrolet hard into the inside retaining wall on the back straightaway, ending Busch's race.

Kyle Busch wrecks out at Atlanta

At first, it seemed like Busch tried to blend in with the high line because there was room in front of Gragson. However, further replays showed that Busch had to lift to collect his race car, and that sent him right in front of the No. 4 Ford, leading to the contact.

Bottom line, no part of the incident was actually Gragson's fault.

But Busch, known for giving spicy post-race interviews and hard-hitting one-liners when things don't go his way, did not disappoint.

"Kids these days"

Busch blamed Gragson for the wreck, referring to his old Kyle Busch Motorsports Truck Series driver as one of the "kids these days".

"I didn't get the best of exits off of [turn] two there, but when I drifted out to the wall, I was trying to get back straight, and he never checked up and just rammed me as hard as he could to get me back going, to get my momentum back going again," Busch told Fox Sports after the race.

"But when a guy is a little out of shape, you gotta give him a second to collect it, before you just ram him, or at least try to check up and push gently, but yeah, that's kids these days."

Fox Sports goes silent after Kyle Busch rant

The Fox Sports broadcast booth's reaction said it all. Because for the next several seconds, it was pure silence.

Knowing absolutely nothing Busch said about Gragson was true, and having just analyzed the incident themselves before Busch's interview, the trio of Mike Joy, Clint Bowyer, and Kevin Harvick then simply resumed calling the race without further comment on the Busch incident.

Sometimes silence speaks louder than words.

The reality of it was that they had already laid out exactly what happened, and the fact is none of it fell on Gragson. Busch got loose, washed up the track, and Gragson had no time react.

Had Gragson checked up like Busch inexplicably felt he should have, we'd have been looking at a massive pile-up, rather than just a single-car wreck involving the one driver who actually endured the hiccup to begin with.

It's not on Gragson to be "gentle" or give Busch extra leeway because he lost control of his race car. Gragson is running his own race, just like everybody else, and at the end of the day, he did exactly what he needed to do to avoid being taken out himself.

The guy whose car washed up the track paid for it. Period.

It was eerily similar to what happened at the end of Saturday's O'Reilly Auto Parts Series race, when Austin Hill threw a terrible block that never stood a chance on Ross Chastain to try to retain the lead, wrecked, and proceeded to say, "that's Ross for you!", in the post-race interview.

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

And speaking of "kids these days", Busch is now in the midst of a Cup Series win drought of nearly three years, after starting his career with a record 19 straight winning seasons. His losing streak is nearly at 1,000 days and is now at 95 races.

However, he did win Saturday's Truck Series race at the track, extending his series record to 68 career victories.

With his Richard Childress Racing contract set to expire at the end of the 2026 season, perhaps a full-time Truck Series deal with Spire Motorsports is in his future. His past four NASCAR national series victories have all come in that series against the "kids", and he has gone on record saying that he wants a Truck Series championship to his name before he retires.