Kyle Busch On Todd Bodine's Comment: 'Kind Of Low'

After Todd Bodine said Kyle Busch was "driving dirty" in the Truck Series race Friday night at Kentucky, Busch said Saturday afternoon that Bodine's comment was "kind of low, but that's how Bodine is."

Busch, in his first comments about the Truck race (other than the ones he gave Bodine when he confronted the race winner in Victory Lane), said there was a big difference between racing hard and racing dirty.

"I feel like I'm a hard racer and an aggressive one, but not dirty," Busch said. "Dirty is when you run into the back of someone on the straightaway and put them in the fence.

"I was three lanes up the racetrack, and he chased it all the way up to me. You watch the replay, I'm in the third lane – I was trying to give him room. ... If I spin him out and he spins me out, what good is that for me? That doesn't do me any good. I actually had the courtesy to think about him spinning out, and he did."

Bodine was attempting to pass Busch on the low side for the lead in the latter half of the race when he spun out. He took tires and fuel and ended up not having to pit again – an unintentional strategy that wound up winning the race.

But Bodine credited Busch's "driving dirty" for the win, prompting Busch to pay a visit to Victory Lane.

"I was in the hauler changing and saw him spouting his mouth off on TV," Busch said. "I went straight over there and confronted him right then and there. I had to (leave), so when was I going to do it?"

Busch said he didn't have the chance to speak his mind to the media, since he wasn't required to make a trip to the infield media center (required of the top three finishers), but added, "I don't need to battle in the media. I'll just beat him on the racetrack."

Afterward, Busch hitched a plane ride to Atlanta with Bob Germain – the owner of Bodine's team. Busch said the ride wasn't awkward and that Germain understood Busch's position.

This season, Busch has failed to find full sponsorship for his Kyle Busch Motorsports team after beginning the season with high hopes of running multiple trucks in every race.

He said he's been paying for much of the team out of his own pocket, but feels he can challenge Bodine for the owner points title, which helps explain why he raced Bodine so hard. Busch's team is now 82 points behind Bodine.

Busch also wondered aloud about NASCAR's caution calls (and non-call, in this case).

"It's kind of funny," he said. "We're at Chicago (last week with Busch leading) and with three to go, they throw a caution for nothing, right? Then yesterday, no caution in the last 50 laps, you know? ... You didn't see a caution with three to go to bunch the field back up."

Busch said he saw tire chunks flying off of Ron Hornaday's blown tire and said he spoke with two other drivers who saw the same thing.

"Whether or not (the chunks) landed on the racetrack or the apron, I can't answer you that," he said.