Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch had their fair share of beefs throughout their NASCAR careers, but the duo were actually at odds for a period of time back in 2008.
Joining the Undeniable Show, which is hosted by former NFL tight end turned FOX Sports broadcaster Greg Olsen, Earnhardt and Busch reminisced on their rivalry, elaborating on how far they’ve come, as it would’ve been hard to imagine something like this taking place back in the day.
“Our fanbases are not well-aligned,” Earnhardt told Olsen. “Me and Kyle had a little bit of a history on the race track, but have since become buds. But our fanbases are still having a hard time understanding us being in the same room together.”
Of course, it all goes back to a race at Richmond in 2008, where Earnhardt and Busch were racing for the lead. As Olsen wasn’t a big NASCAR fan back then, Earnhardt took some time to explain what went down to the former NFL pass catcher.
“2008 Richmond. We’re racing for the lead,” Earnhardt stated. “A couple — three laps to go. He got loose underneath me in (turn) three, and I spun. I had just moved to a team that he had just left. There was kind of a weird awkwardness amongst all that.
“I’d wrecked him at Kansas (the year before), so there were some things not good, and I wasn’t handling it good. He wasn’t handling it great. And we went back and forth in the media a bunch.”
As Earnhardt mentioned, the racing incident was underscored with Earnhardt’s move to Hendrick Motorsports, which forced Busch to move to Joe Gibbs Racing. Evidently, Earnhardt explained the events that took place perfectly, “He hit it right. The culmination of events took place at 2008 Richmond,” Busch told Olsen.
However, time healed the differences between Earnhardt and Busch, as the duo relayed to Olsen that they actually patched up their relationship during an episode of Earnhardt’s podcast.
“We actually did patch up our differences on a podcast. I invited him on, we went over it. Talked about it. We had a great conversation, where Kyle was super honest about how he saw his whole set of events, and his perspective of the whole thing, so it was great for me, and I think it was good for Kyle, and we’ve since (made up) — even before that though,” Earnhardt added.
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch are all good now, we’re willing to bet Earnhardt’s fans would still love to go back to Richmond and see their driver get that victory. Regardless, there’s no longer ill-will between the legendary wheelmen, and there’s something to be said for letting bygones be bygones.
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