KEY POINTS:
Nascar driver Kyle Busch is a driven man who has alienated himself from a fair proportion of the fans and fellow drivers.
Just how driven was demonstrated when he became the first to compete in three races in three different cities last weekend.
There was Sprint Cup qualifying in Pocano, Pennsylvania followed by a Craftsman Truck series race in Texas before moving onto a Nationwide event in Lebanon, Tennessee and back to Pocano for the Sprint Cup.
Busch is first on the Sprint Cup ladder, second in the Nationwide series and 16th in the Craftsman Truck series, which goes to show he's not doing it just for the hell of it.
But Busch's jumping in and out of helicopters and planes and fast cars is only going to rile his already envious fellow drivers even more.
He had a falling out with former team-mate Jeff Gordon last month.
"He's got an issue because he gave me the finger and you know what?" says Gordon. "That's not necessary for a guy he just didn't like racing him the way I did."
And not only are a great number of fans irked with him bouncing around the different classifications, but the good old boys from down south are pretty miffed as well.
First they couldn't believe he'd race a Toyota in the most American of car racing, but has had the audacity to put a Japanese car on the top of the podium four times this year.
There's even a conspiracy theory circulating that Toyota has bribed Nascar into letting Busch win and that he's got loads more horsepower than the US manufactured cars.
Because Busch wins unapologetically, and then does a little bow to the heckling fans, rumour and scandal is being spread as a way to explain his success rather than just talent and hard work.
And the fact he's backed by a manufacturer who wants to win, and doesn't expect to win as a God-given right, must be driving the Yanks mad.
But Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch's team, is based in Huntersville. He was born in Nevada and Toyota's racing arm is in California so I can't see how there's anything un-American about the precocious 23-year-old.
Just because Busch doesn't doff his cap to his elders, or has a simpering deference to the patriarchal families of Nascar, doesn't mean he's disrespectful, it just means he's getting on with job at hand winning.
And as for fans blaming him for Dale Earnhardt Jr's 70 odd race winless streak, maybe they should be looking to Junior to pick his game up.
I like Busch's attitude as it's one of "there's no such thing as the good old days. They were crap. These are the good days".
Busch will have to be aware that if you dish it out it's more likely than not someone's going to give it back to him in spades. Nascar has always had its niggles, and the young ones are talking it up to new heights. First Busch told Denny Hamlin, "You mess with the bull and you will get the horns." Hamlin's reply was, "You throw a rock, I'm going to throw a concrete block back."
Those comments would have bought a wry smile to the lips of the original hard man of Nascar, Earnhardt senior.
