NASCAR fans: Hate Kyle Busch all you want, but show respect — he's an all-time great.

At a sushi dinner last week, I dropped a roll into my cup of soy sauce. It splashed all over the table, my phone, my girlfriend’s phone and just about everything in a two-foot radius.

Now, I didn’t drop the roll because I’m sloppy with chopsticks, although I definitely am not an expert, but because I saw something so shocking on TV I forgot I was eating.

What I saw was FOX Sports’ ratings of the top 50 NASCAR drivers ever. One driver’s placement shocked me.

Kyle Busch — at No. 12??

Right about then I dropped my sushi. Don’t get me wrong — I know Busch is a heck of a driver, probably one of the top three or four active racers. But 12th overall felt ... generous.

Of course, as if he’d been at the table with me and seen my shock, Busch proved his value again on Sunday by holding off Kevin Harvick for his first win of the season. He’s also got three second-place finishes in the other six races this year.

You don’t need me, or FOX, or any sort of expert to tell you how impressive that is.

But NASCAR fans, by and large, don’t love Kyle Busch the way they love other drivers of his caliber. Busch’s contemporaries on the list — Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr., to name a few — all have their own quirks, but they get more adoration than Busch. How come?

Probably because it’s a lot easier to hate Kyle Busch than it is to love him.

Busch’s racing rap sheet reads like that of a true villain: the fistfight with Joey Logano, getting black-flagged in the Truck Series, and a history of boorish comments and fits of rage. He’s more than earned his reputation as a bad boy — although some of that has been mitigated since his son was born.

The truth is, Busch doesn’t care about the niceties or politics of NASCAR. The man cares about winning. Just winning.

And he’s truly good at it. With this win at Texas, he now has 44 Cup victories. That’s in addition to his 91 Xfinity and 50 Truck wins. Altogether, he’s now just 15 checkered flags short of tying Richard Petty’s mark of 200.

Petty was ranked the No. 1 driver ever, by the way.

Factor in that Busch is just 32 (he turns 33 in a few weeks) and it’s completely reasonable that Busch passes Petty at some point. Shoot, if he keeps up his current pace, he could pass the King by the end of next season. What if he wins the championship this season or the next? What if he wins both? Then where would you slot him the list?

The point is, NASCAR needs villains, and while Busch isn’t as much of one as he used to be, he’s probably still the best (worst?) one the sport has.

So hate Kyle Busch all you want, NASCAR fans. He doesn’t care.

But appreciate him, too — he’s an all-time great, and may go down as one of the best ever.

And you don’t need any list to tell you that.

This week’s NASCAR race: Bristol: What you need to know

Race: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500.

Distance: 500 laps, or 266.5 miles.

Where: Bristol Motor Speedway, a 0.53-mile high-banked, concrete oval in Bristol, Tennessee.

When: 1 p.m. Sunday. (Update: Race time moved due threat of heavy rains, thunderstorms.)

TV: FOX.

Radio: PRN.

Last year’s winner: Jimmie Johnson.

Also this week: Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, Xfinity Series, Bristol Motor Speedway, 1 p.m., Saturday, FS1.

Worth mentioning: Bristol Motor Speedway is one of the largest sports venue by capacity in America, seating around 160,000.

Who’s Hot/Who’s Not

HOT

Kyle Busch: Through seven races, he has one win and three second-place finishes — enough said.

Kevin Harvick: He narrowly missed his fourth win of the season, but second isn’t shabby either.

NOT

Jimmie Johnson: A wreck not of his doing ended his day prematurely at Texas, which stings because the No. 48 finally looked fast again.

Aric Almirola: A surprise start to the season seems to be wearing off for him, as he’s dropped to 12th in the standings.

This story was originally published April 11, 2018 at 6:20 PM with the headline "NASCAR fans: Hate Kyle Busch all you want, but show respect — he's an all-time great.."