Rob D'Amico and Michele Rahal from Race Day on Fox Sports Radio DO NOT see eye to eye on the Juan Pablo Montoya vs Kyle Busch story and as we all know there are two sides to every story.

Michele's Take:

Yesterday at the Loudon, New Hampshire Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Sprint Cup race, Kyle Busch stared into the cameras once again after an on-track altercation on the last caution lap with Juan Pablo Montoya. This time, however, it was a very different Kyle. This Kyle took on the role of the innocent victim, the oppressed and downtrodden. The scene had an eerie Sybil-like look to it.

Juan Montoya had the nerve to spin him out on purpose.

So there Busch stood with that Alfred E. Newman look on his face as if the school principle were standing in front of him asking what role he had played in the schoolyard fight. Busch was spinning his side of the story like a whirling dervish about his role in the incident. “Let NASCAR take care of it” he proclaimed, he added, “I don’t know what his beef is”.

Well the beef appears to be one more example of how Kyle Busch races other competitors. Not the hard driving or brilliant skills that he uses, but rather the bullying tactics of rubbing and repeatedly bumping into people he feels should get out of his anointed way.

On Sunday he ran into the wrong person. Juan Pablo Montoya has bumped wheels with world champions at 200 mph, in an open wheel car and personalities like Kyle Busch don’t scare him. Kyle Busch finally met someone who simply said, “He (Busch) crossed the line”.

Depending on who you believe, Busch had repeatedly bumped and rubbed on Montoya leading up to the caution. When the caution came out, due to Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish. Jr. colliding, Busch hit him again. Montoya gave him a gesture inferring Kyle’s IQ and Busch rubbed against him again. Then in front of God, America and all the television cameras, Montoya turned into the right rear quarter panel of Busch and took him out.

My bet is that everyone who ever hated Montoya has realized that he had finally slapped the school bully right in the mouth and they’re glad he did. I would be willing to bet that you couldn’t find anyone other than the Gibbs camp who had any sympathy for Busch. He had it coming and someone openly and unapologetically gave it to him.

What did NASCAR do about it? In terms of disciplinary actions of the past, they did virtually nothing. Montoya received a two-lap penalty. That’s it. Even NASCAR itself apparently thought that Busch had it coming, it was on a caution lap, no one in the way and no harm no foul. Not to mention it’s great press.

So what’s next? Will Busch retaliate? If he does he runs the risk of letting his competitors catch up to him in the chase. Trust me, Joe Gibbs has reminded him of that and the race at Daytona this weekend is no place to try and put yourself in the spotlight other than winning. Busch will do nothing at Daytona. The chances are actually good that he’ll leave Montoya alone from this point forward.

Chances are even better that Montoya has finally let everyone in the garage know that he won’t take any bullying from anyone. It’s about time.


Rob's Take:

In the beginning it was all about hard side-by-side racing at it finest. Two drivers with giant egos battling back and forth for position and there’s nothing wrong with that right?

Well until Juan Pablo Montoya decided to make a bone headed move and take Kyle and himself out of the race intentionally. Remember, this is all under a caution brought on when a collision between Sam Hornish, Jr. and Clint Bowyer brought out the yellow, but we'll get to that in another blog. Montoya's lucky that he didn't take another unexpected driver out of the race too.

Some people like Rahal believe that Kyle had it coming for his rough racing out on the track.

Isn't that what we are here to see? Two drivers, both with great talent, fighting for position out on the racetrack? Isn't that racing?

Yes, Kyle swerved his car towards Montoya and yes there was contact but at no point did Kyle take Montoya out of the race intentionally and under a yellow! Kyle just gave him a friendly reminder that if that is how you want to race then game on my friend.

We saw guys all day battle side-by-side, for example did you see pretty boy, ‘I don't do anything wrong’ Kasey Kahne take out Aric Almirola? But here is where it gets better. Almirola gets revenge the smart way. Later in the race he gave Kasey a taste of his own medicine and returned the favor spinning him with a little love tap. Now that's just ‘one of them racin' deals’!

Or did you happen to catch Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon doing the exact same thing that Kyle and Juan were doing. Racing side-by-side beating, ####ing and swerving back and forth at each other.

So what's the difference? Jimmie Johnson, nor Jeff Gordon took the other one out under caution. The two drivers chalked it up as ‘one of them racin' deals’.

Do I need to remind everyone why we freeze the field when a caution comes out? It was at this track a few years ago when Dale Jarrett crashed in the middle of the track and everyone was racing around him to get back to the yellow flag. This put Dale Jarrett every other driver, including safety workers in danger.

There is a time and place for everything and retaliation under a caution is not the place.

What I wanted to see was Juan Pablo Montoya get out of his car and go grab Kyle out of his ride. Now that’s punching the bully right in the mouth, at the right time and place!

Or how about putting your money where your mouth is and kicking Kyle’s rear-end on the racetrack by getting a win. Oh wait, that’s to hard!

Michele Rahal - RACE DAY on FOX Sports Radio

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Glad To Be Gone!

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has probably never been happier to leave a track faster than he left Sonoma, despite a 12th-place finish, road races aren’t his cup of tea, or glass of wine if you will. He will definitely, however, be happy to see the oval at Louden, NW. The ovals are more to his liking and he has shown a consistency in the Hendrick cars that he hasn’t enjoyed in years. Lying third in the points he has a chance to reduce the gap between himself and the superstar formally known as Kyle Busch. Earnhardt is motivated but so are several of the Cup drivers coming off of strong finishes. Bowyer would love to repeat and Harvick would dearly love to break his winless streak. But then there’s a problem. Kyle Busch.

Look for the Gibbs cars to come off the trucks with an attitude that may not be all mental. Chances are that they have positioned the rear of the car with a small degree of yaw in order for them to turn more efficiently on the flat track. This deficiency in the COT may not be problematic for Kyle Busch if he can loosen up his car as his attitude is ‘loose is fast and I’m fast anyway’. Busch has done what all Formula One drivers aspire to do. Outperform their teammates.

Only Hamlin and Bowyer have fewer starts at New Hampshire, each with four, before collecting a win than Kyle Busch with six starts. Look for Busch to adjust his car as the race goes on to make it as loose as possible for the final run. Advantage Kyle Busch.

Kyle Busch Can Rule The World?

My having picked Kyle Busch to win this weekend isn’t a function of being psychic, though I do possess many talents. In fact, you couldn’t place a bet in Vegas and make money by choosing Busch to win in New Hampshire, or the Championship for that matter. What you could do is say that he’s one of a very rare breed of driver that occasionally comes along. That’s right, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Mario Andretti or Michael Schumacher. All are phenoms and all seemingly genius in their execution of the art form we call racing cars. He seems unchallenged at the moment.

He does, however face challenges and the one that is most ominous to Kyle Busch is Kyle Busch himself. There is no doubt in my mind that as his points lead began to dwindle prior to his brilliant drive in Sonoma, “The Coach”, in typical Joe Gibbs fashion, slammed the velvet hammer down upon the young stars head. It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine Gibbs reminding Busch that a Sprint Cup Championship is on the line and despite the fact that Busch loves to frolic around the racing world proving his prowess for all to see, he is under a contract that is worth millions of dollars to himself, the sponsors and the team. Game over, it’s time to get down to business. If the race is at the same track, go do it, but if you have to travel, forget it.

Kyle Busch has attracted worldwide attention to the point that Toyota, in private circles, is no longer calling his forthcoming test of their Formula One car a “demonstration”, but rather a full blown, full race mapped engine test.

This is no small feat for a tall, brash American to accomplish. A real Formula One test can cost a million dollars when done correctly and apparently Toyota is willing to take that risk.

Being American, it's even more apparent that the manufacturer has designs on using Busch in this event later in December as a reminder to all that Toyota is dedicated to America itself. Great Public Relations and even greater if the engineers give him a fair shake. No full-time NASCAR driver has ever made a switch to Formula One.

Could he really be that good?

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