NASCAR Parks Kyle Busch For Weekend At TMS
Kyle Busch exits the NASCAR hauler after a meeting with NASCAR officials on Saturday. At that meeting, Busch was told he was suspended for the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. (RacinToday/HHP photo by Harold Hinson)
FORT WORTH, Texas – NASCAR officials came down hard on Kyle Busch on Saturday morning for his part in an ugly incident which occurred during Friday night’s Camping World race at Texas Motor
Speedway.
Busch’s weekend is over. He will be parked for Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race, today’s practices and also for Saturday’s Nationwide race, NASCAR president Mike Helton said.
The penalty announced this morning is “just an event reaction” according to Helton, and additional penalties could follow next week.
Busch’s No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Sprint Cup car will be on the track the rest of the weekend, but with Michael McDowell driving. JGR’s Denny Hamlin will be in the Nationwide car.
(Note: For a complete report on Saturday night’s Camping World Truck race by RacinToday’s John Sturbin, click on http://www.racintoday.com/archives/31260).
In announcing the penalties, Helton said that when the policy of “Boys, have at it” was announced, they would know how much was too much when it came to on-track incidents and that on Friday night, they saw it.
The incident occurred on lap 13 off the truck series race. It started when Ron Hornaday Jr. lost control of
Mike Helton announced this morning that Kyle Busch has been parked. (RacinToday/HHP photo by Harold Hinson)
his truck and moved up into the side of Busch’s truck. Hornaday bounced off Busch, wiggled some more and then hit the Busch truck again.
Busch, who had fallen behind after the contact, sped back up under yellow and rammed Hornaday’s Kevin Harvick Inc. truck from behind. Busch kept contact with the rear bumper of the KHI truck and shoved it sideways and hard into the wall.
Both trucks were knocked out of the race.
Hornaday entered the race as a championship contender as he was third in points – just 15 behind Austin Dillon.
Hornaday, who finished 34th in the 36-truck field, saw his bid for a record fifth series title disintegrate as he exited Texas fourth in points and 48 behind Dillon with one event remaining. The series will end its season at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 18.
JGR owner Joe Gibbs said, “it’s a tough situation for us.”
He said he would like to meet with all those involved and talk about the situation and said that he trusted NASCAR to do the right thing at times like this.
But, he stopped short of saying he thought that what Busch did was wrong and the penalty appropriate.
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