I don’t know about you, but I’m here for some beef between NASCAR and Formula 1 racing.
There was some chirping back and forth between fans after the incredible finish during the Cup Series race in Atlanta a couple weeks ago, when three cars crossed the finish line nearly at the same time and Daniel Suarez was ultimately declared the winner my a mere .003 seconds. This led many NASCAR fans to point out the differences with F1, where Max Verstappen usually wins by a couple hours and there hasn’t been much real drama lately.
Was it tension that I thought I needed? No not exactly, but now that it exists, I need more of it. Maybe even a Netflix series that specifically covers the beef and not just one racing association or the other.
Of course, F1 racing became more popular on an international scale following the release of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. The success of that documentary series not only brought more eyes to F1, it also allowed for even more behind-the-scenes series covering sports, like the NFL’s Quarterback, the PGA’s Full Swing, and most recently NASCAR’s Full Speed.
As it turns out, people like to watch the behind-the-scenes stuff just as much as they like to tune into the sporting events themselves. These docuseries have likely brought a lot of fans into their respective sports…but it hasn’t gotten some of the NASCAR guys to like F1 by any means.
How do I know that? Well, Kyle Busch stopped by The Pat McAfee Show to discuss the latest in his career and NASCAR, and McAfee made it a point to discuss some of the differences between America’s beloved NASCAR and the F1 racing that’s taken the world by storm.
“The races are like time trials. They’re stacked right behind each other. We watch you guys, we’re four wide. We’re four wide sometimes. You said, ‘I’m bumping Denny Hamlin, not to spin him out, just a little hey.’
They’re not doing any of that. I think we’re just ignorant Americans, because when we get on go-karts, we’re trying to cut off our friends whenever we’re racing. Would you be good at their racing?”
(Also hilarious that Pat can’t say Max Verstappen’s name).
It was a very thoughtful question from McAfee, and Busch knew exactly how to answer it: By taking the opportunity to poke some fun at how Formula 1 does things in comparison to NASCAR:
“The bumping and the banging, you definitely don’t want to do that. Those cars are too fragile, so you’re not going to do that.
Let me give you an example. NASCAR racing, to me, is like two bros or four bros or whatever, beer cans in their hands smashing them up going, ‘WOO!’ Partying, having a good time. We’re gonna rub some fenders.
When you go and do an F1 race, little dainty, tiny champagne glasses doing ‘dink,’ and making sure you keep your pinky up when you take a sip, you know? And we’re all about getting sloshed.”
HELL YEAH.
Sorry, I’m not supposed to react like that as I’m writing, am I? Not journalistic of me to do that, by any means, but I’m sure we can all agree that what Kyle Busch said warranted a “hell yeah,” if not a “Dale yeah.”
You can view Kyle Busch’s hilarious dig at F1 in the clip below:
