"There were some things not good" - When Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed his rivalry with Kyle Busch

Retired NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt Jr. and current star Kyle Busch have a storied past in the Cup Series. A few months ago, the two discussed their rivalry in an interview.

Earnhardt Jr. and Busch sat down with former NFL tight end Greg Olsen for an interview back in February. Earnhardt Jr., a 15-time Most Popular Driver of the sport, explained how he and Busch's fanbases weren't aligned. That's because Busch, a two-time Cup Series champion and 63-time race winner, had some run-ins with the North Carolina native on the track.

Earnhardt Jr. recalled an incident between himself and Busch in 2008 at Richmond that saw the latter spin out the 26-time Cup Series winner while racing for the lead with three laps to go. This sparked outrage from many Earnhardt Jr. fans. Because of this incident, along with the one in Kansas the year prior that saw Earnhardt Jr. wreck Busch, the two weren't on great terms.

"There were some things not good," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I wasn't handling it good, he wasn't handling it great, and we went back-and-forth in the media a bunch."

Sitting across the table in the interview was Busch, who agreed with the way his former rival summed up their differences, as the Las Vegas native said:

"The culmination of events took place 2008 Richmond."

Earnhardt Jr. made it clear that there aren't any hard feelings between the two of them today and noted that Busch was a guest on his podcast, the Dale Jr. Download, where the two were able to be open about their rocky past.

"We had a great conversation where Kyle was super honest about how he saw his whole set of events and his perspective of the whole thing, so it was great for me and I think it was good for Kyle."

Even before that meeting, Earnhardt Jr. believes it was all water under the bridge between himself and Busch. Olsen, now a color commentator for NFL on FOX, said he never sensed any tension between the two.

The 14-year NFL player asked the two if their respective fanbases have let the animosity go, to which Busch responded:

"Mine probably would, I don't know that his [Earnhardt Jr.'s]."

Earnhardt Jr. answered Busch's question by saying it's split between his legions of fans.

"Some of mine are now Kyle fans. We call them unicorns. Some of them still hold a grudge. Fans are passionate and they don't forget anything and some of them don't get over it."

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. replaced Kyle Busch at Hendrick Motorsports ahead of 2008

After an eight-year run with Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, a team his late father and seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. owned, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made the move to Hendrick Motorsports to drive the #88 Chevrolet. The odd man out was Kyle Busch, who left HMS after three seasons and moved to Joe Gibbs Racing.

Earnhardt Jr. raced for HMS from 2008-2017, winning nine races and qualifying for the playoffs six times. Busch raced at JGR from 2008-2022, where he wheeled the #18 Toyota to 56 Cup victories and two championships in 2015 and 2019.

Today, Earnhardt Jr. is now retired and works as a NASCAR color commentator. He worked at NBC from 2018-2023 and will be a part of the TNT/Amazon team starting in 2025.

Meanwhile, Busch now drives for Richard Childress Racing in the Cup Series and is in his second season with the team in 2024.