Kyle Busch on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s ‘old guards’ comments: ‘Jimmie ruined it for a lot of us’

Kyle Busch agrees with Dale Earnhardt Jr. when it comes to Jimmie Johnson. While appearing on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion was asked about what Earnhardt previously said on a podcast about being “one of the old guards” and not preparing the same way as Johnson and the new generation of talent.

“Jimmie ruined it for a lot of us,” Busch said. “Dale isn’t the only one that had the Jimmie Johnson factor that came upon him. I got yelled at from a crew chief. I was getting a little chunky, a little heavy and all that. He was like ‘You need to work out, you need to eat better, you need to sleep a little more.’ I was like ‘Okay, sure, Great. Whatever.’

“I spent six months in the gym and working out, slimmed down and lost some pounds and whatnot. The results didn’t change. Nothing happened. It’s all about the horse you are riding. It’s all about the car you got.

Busch continued: “There’s another driver out there who said ‘You can’t drive a slow car fast. That’s the truth to the matter, and Jimmie was always in a fast car. He also had everything right and was going the right way about it.

Kyle Busch shows love to Dick Trickle

Busch went on talk about Dick Trickle who competed in over 2,200 races in his career. “He would show up to the race track with a Coors Light in one hand and a cigarette in another,” Busch revealed. They wouldn’t let him in the car with the Coors Light but they let him in the car with cigarettes.

“…While the race was happening, he would reach over there, grab a cigarette, light it up and he would be smoking under yellow. That was NASCAR.”

Busch and Earnhardt were criticized for not preparing like Johnson who is one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history. In his career, Johnson won seven Cup Series titles and is a two-time winner of the Daytona 500. He is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2024.

Earnhardt never won a Cup Series championship but won the Daytona 500 in 2004 and 2014. He won a total of 26 Cup Series races, was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver for 15 consecutive seasons and is a member of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Busch is still driving full-time and is on his way to being named to the Hall of Fame. Along with winning the Cup Series title twice, Busch has won 63 Cup Series races, making him the ninth-winningest driver in NASCAR Cup Series history.