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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Bad Brad Vs. Rowdy Is A Racing Thing
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski trade paint and words in NASCAR Series races...
Jim Pedley  | http://www.RacinToday.com  |  Posted August 23, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Neither Kyle Busch nor Brad Keselowski backed down in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series IRWIN Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)
Join NASCAR driver Kyle Busch Tonight on NASCAR Race Hub at 7 pm ET. Busch had a record-setting weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway capturing victories in the Camping World Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series.

A look back at race day on Race Day Plus One:

Sides clearly were picked when the day dawned at hot old Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday. Fans, media and even some other competitors had aligned themselves in the boiling feud between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski.

When the green flag dropped for the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, you were either a Kyle Guy or a Brad Guy.

And the guess here is that it will continue to be that way for as long as these two guys are on the same track at the same time.

Where is the proper place to line up in the Battle of the Brats?

How about right in the middle? That is, you’ve got to love ‘em both. Neither heroes and neither are villains. They are both just great competitors.

You can’t be a NASCAR fan and not respect the way Kyle Busch wheels a stock car. He’s equal parts Pearson, Earnhardt and Yarborough. Tough and talented. Yes, he’ll use his bumper on you but the guy is no torpedo.

David Reutimann, who finished second to Busch in the Cup race on Kyle Busch Weekend, nailed it when he said without a trace of whine, “We got together, but we were just racing. It’s no big deal. That’s part of the deal. And if you race Kyle, you know you’re going to get run into at some point. That’s just kind of the way it is. So it’s no big deal, we’re just racing.”
Brad Keselowski, driver of the #22 Discount Tire Dodge, spins out after an incident with Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Z-Line Designs Toyota, during the NASCAR Nationwide Series Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Keselowski’s driving skills are not as polished as Busch’s. Not in Sprint Cup cars, at least. But the young guy from Michigan who is competing in his first full season in the series is an identical twin to Busch when it comes to race-day demeanor. He is Kyle Busch in 2005.

Ask either of them about points racing and they will ask you right back: What’s a points race?

Bad Brad didn’t need to win Friday night’s Nationwide race at Bristol. That title’s all but locked up and if it does end up slipping away from him it will be because he took chances to win races instead of pile up points. Big picture-wise, he only had things to lose as he pounded away at Busch over the final laps.

Busch didn’t need to win on Saturday. He is all but in the Chase. He already had enough bonus points in his pocket to get off to a healthy start in the Chase.

No, neither driver needed to win at Bristol – accept that both drivers needed to win at Bristol.

And if you can’t understand that, maybe soccer is the sport for you.


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Jim Pedley

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