When you think of Nascar legends, you no doubt think of names like Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, David Pearson and Darrell Waltrip. Even Jeff Gordon would have to be near the top of that list. But with his success in recent years, Kyle Busch has been called the next Dale Earnhardt and one of, if not the best, racer in Nascar history. Really? Kyle Busch?
Just look at the numbers. Richard Petty has 200 career Cup Series wins. Seven of those are Daytona 500 victories. He also has 712 top ten finishes, 127 poles and a record tying seven Winston Cup titles in his 1, 185. Petty also raced several different types of cars over his career. He raced Dodge Chargers (and his classic "Petty Blue" winged Charger Daytona) in the 1960's and 1970's, Buick Regals in the 1980's and Pontiacs in the late 80's until he retired in 1992. He even raced a Ford Torino Talladega for one season in 1969. This is why he earned the nickname "The King."
The only driver to tie Petty's benchmark of seven titles is Dale Earnhardt. Nicknamed "The Intimidator" for his aggressive, win at all costs driving style, Earnhardt beat and banged his way to 76 victories in 677 career starts. While Earnhardt was a very polarizing driver, just as Busch is today, Earnhardt worked for every ride he ever got during his career. From racing to pay the bills to signing with a new, unproven team called Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt was never handed a single thing. He was a real guy who raced cars on Sunday and fed the cows at the farm on Monday. That is why his fans loved him. He was one of them. Busch, on the other hand, was able to land premiere rides at Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing because of his talent, but he is viewed by most fans as just a spoiled brat who throws a tantrum when something doesn't go his way. That is the key difference between these two drivers and why they are not anything alike.
David Pearson is second on the all time wins list with a staggering 105 victories. While he only ran a partial schedule later in his career, he did run the full schedule at the beginning of his career. This enabled him to win the then-Grand National Series championship in 1966, 1968 and 1969. His career paralleled that of Petty's and the two became "rivals" on the track. They also accounted for 63 first/second place finishes (with the nod going to Pearson). Known as "The Silver Fox", Pearson's trademark was laying back early in a race, saving his equipment and making a late charge for the win. More times than not, he came out on top.
Yes the Cup Series is much more competitive now. Kyle Busch is beating the best in the business. But when you look at the numbers, they're not really that impressive. The Toyota driver has 23 Cup Series wins, which is quite a few. But Sprint Cup racing is much more competitive that Nationwide and trucks. In addition to those Cup wins, Busch also has 49 Nationwide wins and 29 Truck Series wins. The fields in those two series are much less competitive than in Sprint Cup and with Joe Gibbs equipment, a monkey could win races driving for them.
Kyle Busch has over 100 Nascar NATIONAL Series wins. Richard Petty has 200 CUP Series wins. While both are impressive, saying Busch is as good as Petty was (or Pearson or Earnhardt for that matter) is just ridiculous. It's like comparing apples and oranges. Kyle "Rowdy" Busch is may be an arrogant punk, but he can drive the wheels off a race car. He is a phenomenal talent. But he is no Richard Petty.
No comments:
Post a Comment