Busch, Johnson Round 2

On what ended up being a wild night of tying the record number of cautions at Richmond International Speedway the Round 2 bells sounded for the feud that sparked more than words, Kurt Busch vs. Jimmie Johnson. This feud took a battle of the words at Pocono as both drivers pointed out in their interviews and basically gave everyone the run around of whether or not the feud would take a backseat when the Chase starts. In many fans’ eyes as well as my own I think this was just round 2 of 12.

Round two began on Lap 185 when Busch admittedly got into Johnson and spun him in Turn 2 of the 0.75-mile track.  “We had 398 other laps with the way we raced each other [clean],” Busch said. “I got into [Turn 1] hot, locked up my brakes and slid into him. And then you could just see the payback coming from the five-time chump. So this is where we stand. Cars have been racing; cars have been wrecked. We have a Chase to start, so let’s forgive.”

But the “Five-time Chump” as Busch put it was not ready to forgive and forget so easily. On Lap 246, he hit Busch from behind and spun both cars out. Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet hit the wall and headed to the garage, and he later candidly admitted he deliberately spun Busch’s No. 22 Dodge in retaliation. And unfortunately, Round two had come to a close and Kurt Busch was the winner of the round considering he finished 5th in the race.

Now, the Chase is here and everyone should be preparing for their run at winning the championship but are these two really going to be just doing that? In all honesty, NO. The Chase always heightens the drivers nerves, they lose their cool quicker and no one really forgets anything that happened now.

I look to see Round 3 explode into action between these two sooner rather than later because Kurt Busch keeps running at the mouth and it is bound to get him into trouble with the 5-time Champ, Jimmie Johnson.