Either Kyle Busch is a master a cultivating a bad boy image, or he's trying his darndest to win over more NASCAR fans in 2010. Because it's become pretty clear since Daytona that Rowdy has been making it a point to be, well, super nice.
During pre-race festivities at the Bud Shootout, I noticed that Busch went out of his way to sign autographs for fans, even though he had just been heartily booed at driver introductions.
And then Busch joined Twitter. And instead of unleashing a torrent of smack (which I was expecting, nay hoping, to see) he starts by responding to fans' inquiries with utmost politeness, sharing his feelings about his engagement to Samantha Sarcinella and chatting with his buddy Scott Speed.
So here's my question.
Was Busch merely fooling his detractors all along by playing up his villainesque persona, or are witnessing a concerted effort by Joe Gibbs Racing's public relations arm to improve his rowdy-round-the-edges image? The crew at JGR hinted it may be a least partly orchestrated, when they asked, via Twitter, what folks thought of Busch now that they could read his Tweets.
However, the beau geste came on Sunday, in a genius move which did much to endear Busch to the greater NASCAR nation. Busch tweeted before the Fontana race that he would give away the sunglasses he wore during his previous evening's Nationwide win to the person who could find the glasses first.
And the Joe Gibbs Racing folks were quick to point out that this generous, fan-friendly giveway was all Kyle's idea.
Guess we'll have to wait a few races to find out if this Kyle Busch is for real ... or not.
Photo: Kyle Busch signs autographs for fans before the Bud Shootout earlier this month
Please, bring back the old Busch...he at least added flavor to a sport that is sadly lacking in spice.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty obvious to those who have followed Kyle for any length of time, that this is the real Kyle Busch. The "bad" Kyle pretty much only exists in the 5 minutes after a tough loss.
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