Kyle Busch was the target of some finger-pointing Sunday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which is nothing new since he is a lightning rod for a lot of things.
But give Busch credit. He stood up and took the blame.
In case you missed it, there was an eight-car pileup on a Lap 175 restart. It began with Dale Earnhardt Jr. spinning his tires, holding up the rest of the field.
Two of those involved, Martin Truex Jr. and Brian Vickers, blamed Busch for making it worse than it had to be.
"While I was in the care center I saw the replay and it looked like the 18 [Busch] was just completely impatient -- very normal," Vickers said. "Just hooked the 1 [Truex] in the right rear and turned him in front of the field.
"If you wreck somebody on the straightaway, you kind of should be black-flagged for it, but that's NASCAR's call, not my call. That's the second week in a row that stupidity has cost us a race, and it's frustrating."
Truex concurred.
"I was just, you know, staying in line doing what I could to get going, and obviously you can't pass before the start-finish line," he said. "I guess Kyle just decided he didn't want to lift, so I was just an innocent victim today.
"Kyle just lost his head like he usually does when something bad happens. He decided he wasn't going to lift, he was going to turn me on the straightaway for no good reason at all."
It's been a while since Busch has been called overaggressive. He has avoided, for the most part, taking chances to the point of recklessness, a clear sign he has matured greatly as a driver.
So if we're going to rip him for leaving the track without speaking to reporters or for taking potshots at Earnhardt and his former crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., he deserves kudos for hanging around to admit he made a mistake that cost several drivers contending for the Chase valuable points.
Maybe the Shrub is becoming a tree.
"Unfortunately, I have to apologize to all those guys on that restart," Busch said. "I got into Martin and I hate it for him and Jeff Burton and those guys. It was just hard racing on a restart.
"It looked like the 88 spun his tires a little bit. I went to the middle to go for a lane and these double-file restarts everything is so tight anyways and I just got into the 1 a little bit there and got him sideways."
The best way to deflect criticism is to meet it head-on.
Busch did that Sunday.
He deserves some credit for that.
David Newton
