NASCAR further penalizes Kyle Busch
As a result of his actions in Friday night’s WinStar World Casino 350K NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, NASCAR announced on Monday that it has further penalized Kyle Busch.
Busch has been fined $50,000 and placed on probation until Dec. 31.
NASCAR determined that Busch violated section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2011 rule book. Section 12-1 is a catch-all rule that is almost always cited in announcements from NASCAR regarding rules violations and penalties. But NASCAR’s announcement regarding Busch’s punishment took an even more serious tone than normal as it also stated:
“If during the remaining NASCAR events in 2011 there is another action by the competitor that is deemed by NASCAR officials as detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR, or is disruptive to the orderly conduct of an event, the competitor will be suspended indefinitely from NASCAR.”
After and on-track incident with Ron Hornaday in the early laps of the truck race at Texas, Busch hit the truck of Hornaday, turning Hornaday and sending him into the retaining wall during a caution that came out on lap 13. The wreck took Hornaday out of championship contention after he headed into the Texas race 15 points behind series leader Austin Dillon.
As a result of his actions, NASCAR parked Busch for the remainder of the Truck Series race. The sanctioning body then announced the following Saturday morning that Busch would not be allowed to race the rest of the weekend. He was also on the entry lists for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race and Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race, both also at Texas Motor Speedway.
Denny Hamlin filled-in for Busch in the Nationwide race, and Michael McDowell drove Busch’s regular Sprint Cup Series car.
Busch issued a written apology to the racing community during the weekend.
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Photo courtesy of NASCAR Media.
