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BRANT JAMESThe talented 25-year-old knows he must "build the trust back up."
DAYTONA BEACH - Kurt Busch emerged from the back of his hauler, discarded the remains of a hurried lunch and plunged his arm elbow-deep into a drum of iced drinks.
The sight of the diet soda in his right hand etched a frown across his face.
"Where'd you get that sports drink?" he asked a crew member.
"It's in there," came the reply.
Another thrust yielded the electric-blue concoction Busch sought and he chugged away as mechanics continued tinkering with his gray-bodied Ford in the bay a few feet away.
For one of the few times in a month, he navigated a basically mundane moment at a racetrack. No one was offended. No one booed. No one punched him. It was just a day at the office this week and it was glorious.
Busch is unquestionably one of the most talented drivers on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit. His four wins this year are second only to Ryan Newman's six, and he has eight Winston Cup victories in just three full seasons. He's outspoken, he's articulate. He's 25. He should be a public relations dream.
But he's also, admittedly, sarcastic, occasionally caustic, and that smart-aleck grin seems to drive detractors into a rage. And because of his quick success and quick mouth, he has been cast as NASCAR's new villain, the icon of the new-age punk Winston Cup driver, the snotty, disrespectful kid and reckless opportunist.
But on this day, Busch was just a driver with his and Michael Waltrip's teams, helping conduct a tire test for Goodyear at Daytona International Speedway. No sunglasses, no wry smile, just a sports drink and time to kill as rain passes around the track.
"This is a pretty cool day," he said.
Busch realizes he has a public perception problem to mend, partly out of circumstances of his own doing, partly out of the mania that ensued when Busch's long-running feud with Jimmy Spencer came to national attention on Aug.17 at Michigan. Busch, who had been feuding and bumping on the track with Spencer for a year, attempted to flatten his fender and the veteran driver punched him in the mouth after the race.
Spencer was incensed not only by the bump but by the assumption that Busch had pulled his No.97 Ford to a stop in front of Spencer's hauler as a slight. Busch's car actually had run out of fuel, but Spencer's anger led him to hop from his car and wallop Busch in the mouth, chipping a tooth.
Spencer, 46, a knockaround driver who has not won since 1994, became the sympathetic figure after the race, when Busch filed assault charges and in-car conversations revealed Busch's intentions.
Busch called it "part of racing." Bill Elliott called it "dirty racing."
Spencer and Busch were put on probation for the Michigan incident - Robby Gordon offered to, but did not, pay Spencer's $25,000 fine - but Spencer was suspended for the ensuing race in Bristol, Tenn. His presence was felt, however, as several fans with special access passes for the garage area wore "Free Jimmy" T-shirts. Even some competitors bought the souvenirs.
Fans in the stands turned on Busch quickly, booing him roundly in prerace introductions.
"It's a lesson learned, obviously, on the way fans view their drivers," he said. "If you look at it, you have a group of fans who like one driver, but then there's 42 groups of fans who don't like that driver."
Busch went on to win the race, but incensed fans again when he spun out Tennessee's own Sterling Marlin passing for second midway through the race. Busch knew he had intensified the hatred factor again, admitting "I look like an idiot again," and eschewed typical victory celebrations. Though he promised to be a "less colorful Kurt," he came across defiant again on Victory Lane.
"The late Dale (Earnhardt) Sr. once told me the guy with the most noise wins," Busch said.
Busch, in an attempt at humor and conciliation, tried to apologize to Marlin with a six pack of beer.
"I get (Coors Light) for free," Marlin said, referring to his sponsor. "Let him keep his $5.50."
A public scolding from his main sponsor, Newell Rubbermaid, followed and the company set up a mentoring program to help mold his behavior. Now he's trying to start over.
"It was double circumstances that all fell in on one," Busch said. "I make a mistake in May last year and nobody really talked about it until another parallel mistake was made and then people clumped it all together. It's something where I learned from all of those and you have to deal with it and you have to build the trust back up with all the fans and all the drivers."
Not all drivers are public in their flogging of Busch. One who was once young and still is brash passed on the chance to pile on.
"I've got no problem with Kurt Busch," Rusty Wallace said recently. "You're not going to get me to say anything bad about him."
Busch chooses his words more carefully these days, is a bit more cautious, but knows his image will take time to mend. It's a process he might never complete.
"Things can really get out of proportion quickly, and I've learned that," he said. "It can happen if you don't mind your P's and Q's. I've learned from those mistakes."