By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
On the day he announced that Kyle Busch would be parked for purposely wrecking Ron Hornaday Jr., NASCAR president Mike Helton said the driver’s controversial past had nothing to do with the penalty.
Some in the garages at Phoenix International Raceway this week don’t seem to believe that.
The Busch-Hornaday incident occurred [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
There’s something disturbing about Thursday’s decision by Kyle Busch’s sponsor to remove itself from the No. 18 car for the final two Sprint Cup races of the season.
Something that is very revealing about how the sport of auto racing is evolving and something that could further sour NASCAR’s relationship with [...]

Mars, Inc., has disassociated itself from NASCAR driver Kyle Busch for the remaining two Sprint Cup Series races of the 2011 season, removing the paint scheme of primary sponsor M&M’S® from the No. 18 Toyota Camry until 2012.
The decision is the latest fallout from Busch’s actions during a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at [...]

AVONDALE, Ariz. – If NASCAR’s driving fraternity shoulders reservations about the unpredictable mess that usually accompanies the nervy Chase for the Sprint Cup stop at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, just wait until Sunday.
Thanks to recent repaving and reconfiguration at Phoenix International Raceway, drivers and crew chiefs really are in the dark entering the Kobalt Tools 500.
Even [...]

By Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com
When NASCAR told its drivers, “Boys, have at it,” it really didn’t mean it.
At least not in a Darwinistic, fang-and-claw, survival-of-the-fittest sense.
It didn’t mean it was going to entirely turn the jungle over to the animals. But apparently Kyle Busch took it literally.
After Kyle turned Texas Motor Speedway into the [...]

RacinToday.com
NASCAR has fined Kyle Busch $50,000 and placed him on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31 for his actions during the Nov. 4 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Kyle Busch violated Section 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing) of the 2011 NASCAR Rule Book. NASCAR took immediate action, parking Busch for [...]

By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com
The Second Day Lede
Some random thoughts on the third-to-last – and possibly most bizarre – week of the Sprint Cup season:
Tony Stewart has won half of the eight Chase races and he’s still second in points to Carl Edwards who has won zero Chase races and just one race the [...]

FORT WORTH, Texas – On his way down pit road to Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway Sunday evening, Tony Stewart rolled to a halt at the sight of Carl Edwards. NASCAR’s championship protagonists briefly exchanged smiles and words before tapping hands in a sign of mutual respect.
“I just told him, ‘Good job,’ ” Edwards [...]

RacinToday.com
Tony Stewart ’s mad dash through the 2011 Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship continued on Sunday when he won the AAA Texas 500 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
The victory was the fourth through eight Chase races for Stewart. And the victory came in convincing fashion as he led 173 of 334 laps.
The [...]

FORT WORTH, Texas – Veteran NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace has rallied to the defense of lame duck Sprint Cup drivers David Reutimann and David Ragan, whose sponsorship woes have them scrambling for fulltime rides in 2012.
“I’m just absolutely shocked with all these Cup drivers losing their rides, and they’re winning drivers,” Wallace said Saturday at [...]