Kyle Busch would probably like to forget the night of August 18, 2018 at Bristol Motor Speedway for two reasons. For one, despite having won at Bristol earlier in the year and having qualified third for the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver ran into issues late in the race and ended up placing 20th in his banged-up No. 18 Toyota. Second, his lackluster night on the track was capped off by an angry fan getting in his face and physically attempting to fight him. Kyle may be used to being the target of hate, but this really took things to a whole new level.
As Kyle's brother Kurt Busch was busy celebrating his big win at Bristol, which snapped a 58-race losing streak, Rowdy had to deal with a rowdy heckler who confronted him as he was leaving in his golf cart at Bristol's exit tunnel after signing autographs. Now, the antagonistic NASCAR fan in question wasn't the only one booing or dropping F-bombs at Busch after the Bristol night race, but he took things a few steps further when he shoved Kyle hard in the chest. Before the situation escalated to punches being throw, a couple crew members separated Kyle and the fan.
Usually, fans don't need a particular reason to hate on Kyle Busch, but he was Public Enemy No. 1 after that night in August due to an incident earlier in the race between himself and Martin Truex Jr.
Busch, who had already caused serious damage to his car after causing a 15-car wreck on the second lap, had mounted a pretty serious comeback during the final stage and was so close to the front he could almost taste it. He was running in third when he attempted to overtake Truex, clipping his bumper in the process and causing his car to spin and hit the outside wall. As the final caution of the race came out, Truex's hopes of winning the race were effectively dashed. To his credit, Busch did take the blame for wrecking Truex and ruining his night.
"I didn't think I was next to him yet, and I clipped him and sent him for a whale of a ride," Busch told the Associated Press in a post-race interview. "Hopefully, he's all right and everything is OK there. I hated that I clipped him, I know he could have had a good shot to win the race, too."
Needless to say, Busch's admission wasn't enough to keep him from the ire of an angry fan who really wanted a piece of the two-time champ.
