Hey, Earnhardt fans, get over it!

Here’s the deal, Junior fans: Kyle Busch is entitled to try what he can to win, just the same as any other driver on the circuit, including your darling Dale Earnhardt Jr.

After all, didn’t Junior’s daddy build his reputation by doing the exact same thing, otherwise known as racing hard?

What happened late Saturday night at Richmond truly was just one of those deals.

Earnhardt was in the lead when he and second-place Busch made contact in the third turn with three laps to go. Earnhardt spun into the wall, eventually finishing in 15th place, as Busch continued on and finished second. Clint Bowyer passed them both for the victory.

Get over it.

Or, if the itch just can’t get scratched, rest assured that sooner or later, Kyle Busch will be on the receiving end of a similar deal because that’s just how NASCAR works. What goes around comes around.

But in the meantime, realize that Junior not winning on Saturday night doesn’t represent the end of the world. The sun is continuing its run of rising in the east and shows no signs of quitting.

So take solace in the fact that while Kyle Busch can be a brat, the list of milquetoasts who have been successful in racing is basically as nonexistent as Junior’s winning streak.

To his credit, Junior took it well, refusing to blame Busch for doing anything wrong and summing it up in six succinct words:

“I was going for the win.”

That’s what it’s all about: winning.

Busch is paid handsomely to win just as Junior is paid fabulously to win. And they didn’t get to where they are in NASCAR’s elite level by willing to accept running second.

And neither did their car owners. And don’t think for a minute that either man’s sponsors are cool with being the best man.

As it is, Earnhardt, at 33, has endured only two winless seasons: 1999 when he ran five races, and 2007. He’s won 17 times in 301 Cup starts and essentially has spoiled his fans.

And now along comes Kyle Busch. He’s all of 23, with six victories – two this season – in 124 starts and this year’s points lead. He has a heavy right foot, a pure racer’s mentality and perhaps a-way-down-deep desire to show former boss Rick Hendrick he was wrong to dump him and hire Earnhardt.

As a result, Busch has given the reactionary NASCAR fan base and Earnhardt’s entitlement-addled nation plenty of reason to view him as dimly as a dinner-time call from a debt collector.

Such is life in a sport that rivals only professional wrestling when it comes to good vs. evil and right vs. wrong. NASCAR always has been and always will be – as long as smart people remain in charge – entertainment.

Saturday night, no matter how it’s sliced, Kyle Busch did Junior wrong.

And perhaps nothing less than Kyle Busch’s driving helmet on a platter will satiate the appetite for revenge or destruction that is roiling and rocking and rolling the Earnhardt faithful.

The day will certainly come when Earnhardt is in position to even the score, but then again he can further emerge from the large shadow still cast by his late father by just letting it be.

That will be the true measure of the man and his fans, should they accept it.