Back in the spotlight

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Poor Kurt Busch. He tries his best to avoid controversy, yet still ends up smack in the middle of it.

When Kevin Harvick publicly mocked him, Busch took the high road and refused to respond. Instead, he did his talking on the track – racing to his fifth win in the past nine races at Bristol Motor Speedway.

But not even that was immune to drama. Busch had to bump ex-teammate Matt Kenseth out of his way with four laps to go Sunday to get the win. The fans booed Busch, Kenseth blasted him and Harvick seized another opportunity to verbally bash him.

It sullied what should have been a crowning moment for Busch, who earned his first victory driving Rusty Wallace’s famed No. 2 car, and proved that a change of teams has done nothing to alter the attitudes about NASCAR’s most polarizing driver.

Busch made his share of mistakes in his first five seasons at NASCAR’s highest level, and he’s as much to blame as anyone for the way his rivals and the fans view him. He’s feuded with Harvick and Jimmy Spencer, who famously punched him in the nose after a 2003 race, publicly complained about mistakes his old Roush Racing team made, insulted NASCAR officials over the radio, and he was branded a whiner by his rivals.

But if it bothered him, he didn’t let on. He won 14 races in five years and the 2004 Nextel Cup championship.

He left Roush Racing in a bitter split late last season to drive for Roger Penske, a car owner with a history of rehabilitating difficult drivers.

Penske’s influence seemed to be working through the first four races. Although Busch was still a bit quirky, he kept his nose clean and flew under the radar.

That changed last week when Harvick reiterated his dislike for Busch, and Busch, after taking the high road in his squabble with Harvick, thrust himself squarely back in the spotlight with his late-race tactic.

“He likes to talk a lot, we like to race,” Busch said of Harvick. “We turn our attitudes around to make them positive and to put them in place, and that’s to win races.”

Busch got the win, but his bump of Kenseth raised a few eyebrows.

Kenseth was the leader, but couldn’t deftly maneuver out of traffic. It caused him to slow and brought Busch right on his rear bumper. Tired of waiting, Busch shoved him out of the way and skirted past him with four laps to go to earn the win.

Kenseth recovered to finish third, then called the move a “cheap shot.”

“The only thing I know for sure is that if the roles would have been reversed, I absolutely would not have done that to him,” he said.

Busch defended the bump, and even had an unusual ally in Harvick.

“It is just what you have to do in the closing laps,” said Harvick, who finished second. “I think if the roles had been reversed, it probably would have happened the same way. Just good, short-track racing and one guy wins and one guy loses, it ends up with one guy happy and then one guy mad.”