Best of the Marbles: Kyle Busch in morning rush-hour traffic

[Continuing our look back at some of the fun posts of the last few months. Today, we see what a NASCAR driver can do in morning traffic. Remember, this one isn't current; it's from earlier this year.]

As morning-radio stunts go, this is either supremely stupid or supremely awesome, perhaps both: a Washington, D.C. morning DJ raced Kyle Busch around D.C.'s Beltway in morning traffic. How well would one of NASCAR's finest drivers fare in one of the most brutal workday commutes in the country? Answer: about as well as the rest of us.

Now, if you've never done time in D.C. traffic, I have a way to simulate it for you. Stand up, go to the nearest wall, face the wall, and then try to walk through it. Repeat for 20 minutes. Then walk around the wall and go to the next closest wall. Repeat for two hours. Fun, huh?

So the idea of racing through this mess is insane, and the idea of noted loon Kyle Busch racing through it is damn near suicidal. And yet, it happened. Driving Toyota FJ Cruisers, Kyle raced Flounder of DC101's "Elliot in the Morning" show in their "Smell My Face Beltway Race II." (Race I was against Helio Castroneves.) As you can see there at right, Flounder did what Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon haven't been able to accomplish this year -- beat Kyle Busch. Was there a police conspiracy to help Flounder? Kyle certainly seemed to think so. Hmmm.

You can hear the entire breakdown by clicking here, you can read a blow-by-blow account courtesy of our friends at the Bleacher Report, or you can see NBC Washington's take on it:

Kyle treated this like a real race -- he spun his tires in anticipation of the start, traded paint with Flounder on surface roads, and rammed Flounder's FJ in the driver's side in frustration at the end of the race. Just like on the track!

He apparently received only a few one-finger salutes -- the D.C. public may have a lower-than-normal percentage of Junior fans -- although one listener did say he was going to "put Kyle into the wall" for some reason or another. (No luck for that guy.)

Now, you'll note that the NBC report doesn't mention the morning-radio contest or the fact that Kyle had to wheel onto the shoulder a few times to get around traffic. But the shots of Kyle whipping through morning traffic are enough to make me want to go do a little bump-drafting on the highway right now.

Borderline insane and life-threatening? Sure. But isn't that what NASCAR's all about?