Racing Wives — the reality show focused on significant others of NASCAR drivers, including Samantha Busch and Ashley Busch — premiered Friday on CMT (formerly known as the Country Music Channel).
It’s a housewives-style docuseries with an obvious sports angle, and it was met with mixed reviews on the internet.
The first episode largely served as an introduction to the cast, which makes sense. It highlights the relationships between the Busch sisters-in-law who are married to brothers Kyle and Kurt Busch; Whitney Dillon, who’s married to Austin Dillon; Mariel Swan, who’s married to Paul Swan, a tire carrier on the No. 3 Chevrolet team; and Amber Balcaen, who’s not a driver’s significant other but an aspiring NASCAR driver herself.
Beyond their introductions, the episode is centered around the well-known NASCAR charity event, Catwalk for a Cause, which is put on by the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation. All main cast members attended.
(Truex and his partner, Sherry Pollex, just hosted their 10th annual event this year, which supports children with and survivors of cancer. The episode takes place during the 2018 event, and even though Truex and Pollex are not characters on the show, they had a split-second, non-speaking appearance in the premiere.)
The episode had several funny, little moments revolving around the drivers’ relationships with their wives — like when Kyle Busch tells Samantha he’ll look like Pee-wee Herman if he wears a bowtie and suspenders. But it also seems like there’s the typical manufactured drama reality TV fans expect — kind of like the manufactured competition NASCAR’s 2019 package aims to produce — but we might not see the full extent of that until the next episodes air.
The central conflict of this episode is when Balcaen — who’s trying to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports and is looking for sponsors — gets in trouble with Samantha and Kyle for taking a shot with Mariel.
Between Kyle Busch’s sarcasm and wanting to see professional polo player Ashley Busch show off her skills, we’re willing to accept some of the ridiculous moments in exchange for the better ones.
The NASCAR world on Twitter had mixed feelings about the show. Some people loved it, some hated it and vowed never to watch again and some were just there to make fun of it. It seems like it has the potential to be reality TV fans’ latest guilty pleasure.
Here’s a sample of how people reacted to the first episode — and how Samantha and Ashley responded to some of the feedback.
