Kurt Busch is putting the ‘R’ back in racing

Associated Press

watkins glen, n.y.

A day after Jimmie Johnson went off on Kurt Busch, the five-time Sprint Cup champion’s nemesis shrugged off the criticism of last week’s run-in at Pocono Raceway.

“It’s one of those emotion points that boiled over,” Busch said Saturday morning before NASCAR Cup qualifying at Watkins Glen International. “I felt like the way we raced each other on the track was what champions need to do, and that is to bring the car home where they were running on track. Third and fourth was where we were, and that’s where we crossed the line. Where we raced each other with a juke and a jive and rubbing, that’s racing.”

Busch, the Nationwide winner Saturday, said a talk with his father reaffirmed his actions at Pocono.

“It’s rubbing racing,” Busch said. “I’m putting the ‘R’ back in racing.”

Johnson accused Busch of trying to run him down on the final lap and said Friday that he was angered by Busch’s remarks after their argument in the pits.

“I walk away and he keeps talking. That’s the part that frustrates me,” Johnson said. “That’s when you saw me engage like that. If you’re going to say something, say it to a man’s face. I don’t know about you, but that really makes me mad. He just started running his mouth.”

“If we would have calmed down a little bit, there probably would have been a better discussion,” Busch said. “But he was real amped-up. He felt like I did him wrong.”

Johnson said he was trying to break the draft when he swerved at Busch’s Penske Racing Dodge at the top of the front straightaway at Pocono and said he never touched Busch’s No. 22.

“That’s not the move of a five-time champion,” Busch said. “That’s the move of a guy that has had an issue with a guy like me. We’ve raced each other hard, I’ve been spun out and wrecked a few times and we both know that we look at each other very sternly. That’s great competition.

“When you have a history with a guy, you just don’t forget about it,” Busch said. “If I’m in his head, then he’s got to worry going into this Chase.”

Busch is fourth in the standings, two spots behind Johnson with the Chase for the Sprint Cup title set to begin after five more races.

“To be in position to race Jimmie Johnson head to head, that would be wonderful,” said Busch, who won his only Cup title in 2004, beating Johnson by eight points, the slimmest margin in series history. “But the way this new points system is structured, it’s not really possible because you can’t focus just on one guy.”

Consistent Kyle

Kyle Busch won the pole for today’s Cup race at Watkins Glen International. It’s his first pole of the season, first-ever on a road course, and it puts him in a good place to chase his fourth victory of the season.

“I feel like we’re a lot better than we’ve ever been,” Busch said. “We don’t have the tally of eight wins, but we’re a lot more consistent. Before, we’d have a bad race and not be able to rebound from it.”

Busch, who is third in the standings after 21 races, has 11 top fives and has led the most laps by far in the series this year — 1,087 to brother Kurt’s second-place total of 548.