Kyle Busch finished second-best to his Truck Series driver John Hunter Nemechek on two occasions already this season.
Nemechek, who had three top-10 finishes on the NASCAR Cup Series in 2020, decided to run full-time in the Truck Series with Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2021. He already has two wins this season and both the time, his team owner came second-best in the races.
Both the drivers made an appearance at COTA in Austin to film a promotional spot for the upcoming NASCAR races in May. In the event, they spoke about the race at Richmond.
“I don’t think he would necessarily wreck me for the win, but did you see how far he drove into the corner trying to get to me to move me out of the way?” Nemechek said. “We don’t like running second, that’s for sure. When Kyle drives a truck, obviously, I feel like he’s the one to beat every single week. Being able to beat him twice this year has been a lot of fun in his own equipment, but overall, I know that he’s going to push me to his absolute limit, and I have to drive to my absolute limit. I know that we’re pushing each other and the trucks as hard as we possibly can.”
Busch too confirmed that he wouldn’t go as far as wrecking his own driver and that he was only preparing Nemechek for bigger things.
“I just wanted to worry him a little bit. Just to know that it’s not going to be easy always. Get him ready for that championship race. Come Phoenix, there’s going to be those other guys that are bearing down on his rear bumper to try to make sure that he doesn’t win it.”
However, Busch didn’t hide away from cheating when the two drivers competed on the karting track. Busch took an unapproved shortcut which he described as the “Joker Lane” to take the lead over Nemechek.
As it was just a fun race, it will do no harm for any such cheating.
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