Unapologetic Busch riles Junior Nation

Kyle Busch has been the villain before. But he’s about the feel the wrath of the biggest, baddest fan base NASCAR has ever seen. He’ll have to answer to Junior Nation now.

With two laps to go in Saturday night’s Crown Royal 400 Sprint Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, Busch made an inside move on fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. entering Turn 3. Busch was pushing for the lead when he made contact with the left side of Earnhardt’s car.

Junior spun out. The contact slowed Busch down. Clint Bowyer, who started 31st, darted underneath both of them to take the lead. Bowyer, a two-time Sprint Cup winner, led the final 13 laps, two under green flag, and escaped with one of the most dramatic wins ever witnessed at RIR.

“I mean, if I went out there on the final restart and just gave way to (Earnhardt), then that would not be a true race car driver,” said Busch, who now leads the Sprint Cup point standings by 18 points over South Boston, Va., native Jeff Burton.

“I had to do what I had to do to win for my team ... so that’s what I set forth to do was to try to get a win. Unfortunately, circumstances happened.”

Busch, who got in a spat with Steven Wallace on Friday night after the Nationwide Series race, now has to face the rage of Earnhardt’s large fan base. He insists he was not out to get Earnhardt, though some might say he had good reason.

Earnhardt replaced Busch at Hendrick Motorsports in the offseason, forcing Busch to find a new ride with Joe Gibbs Racing. The two drivers also had some run-ins last season.

“You know, last year we got wrecked twice by (Earnhardt) ... and I feel like those were the situations that took us out of the running for the championship, and that had nothing to do with (Saturday night),” Busch said.

Earnhardt was devastated after the loss. He didn’t blame Busch, but one of his crew members, Rick Pigeon, confronted Busch after the race.

“I wouldn’t say that was intentional going into (Turn 3), because if he wanted to, he could have just thrown me into the fence off of (Turn 2),” Earnhardt said. “We had been racing each other earlier and had no problems. I have done that before. That is what happens if he got loose underneath me.”

Bowyer beat Busch across the finish line by 0.439 seconds. Mark Martin, driving Earnhardt’s old No. 8 DEI Chevy, finished third. Tony Stewart was fourth, and Martin Truex Jr., another DEI driver, finished fifth.

“They were putting on a show for a while,” said Bowyer of Busch and Earnhardt. “They were racing hard. That’s what racing at Richmond is all about, in my opinion. It just didn’t work out.

“I told the cops (who were guarding me as I entered the infield media center): I don’t know why they were escorting me in here. I told them they better get on and escort Kyle Busch out of here.”

The outcome won’t be soon forgotten by hard-luck drivers Earnhardt and Denny Hamlin, or the two drivers’ massive fan bases.

Earnhardt’s losing streak has now reached 72 races. He hasn’t reached Victory Lane since winning at RIR on May 6, 2006.

“The worst part about it is that I have been priding myself on running good all year, and I was in position for a win,” Earnhardt said. “I ran hard and got wrecked. I had a top-three car and should have finished in the top three.”

Hamlin led 381 laps, the most since Richard Petty led 488 of 500 laps in the 1970 Capital City 500, but a slow leak in his right front tire doomed his winning effort. He slowed down just enough for both Earnhardt and Busch to pass him on Lap 383.

Earnhardt led the next 15 laps until Busch spun him out.

Hamlin was on his way to one of the most dominating wins ever witnessed at RIR. His tire went completely flat on Lap 391, and he stopped near the outside of the Turn 4 wall to bring out a caution flag.

Race officials penalized him two laps, claiming he intentionally caused the last yellow flag to benefit his JGR teammate Busch. Hamlin finished 25th, nine spots behind Earnhardt.

“You don’t have days like this. Dominating days like this just don’t happen,” said Hamlin, who won Friday’s Nationwide Series race and started from the pole Saturday night. “Usually when it does, you have an issue at the end. To me, it almost wasn’t that surprising. I’ve had these issues before at Bristol and some other race tracks.”