Tempers flared early in Friday night’s truck race at Texas Motor Speedway. As they ran three-wide early in Friday’s race, Ron Hornaday moved up the track, causing Kyle Busch, running on the outside, to hit the wall. Hornaday also hit it. As they slowly went around the track, Busch ran up on the rear of Hornaday and caused Hornaday to smack the wall head-on in what was hard contact. Hornaday was uninjured. NASCAR called Busch to the hauler to meet with officials after the race. NASCAR met with Kyle Busch for less than five minutes on Friday night after the race. They will meet with Busch before Saturday morning’s Cup practice (which is at 8:45am/et) to discuss the incident. Hornaday went to the NASCAR hauler (he wasn’t called there by officials) after Kyle left and said: “If NASCAR doesn’t (park Busch), I’m hanging around, and I’m going to buy Tommy Baldwin’s ride and that guy will never finish another race. That’s a promise. He’s got to be parked. They did it to Harvick at Martinsville.” Hornaday was reminded that the Harvick parking was in 2002, which Hornday said: “So, let’s have at it? So I can go over and beat his ass and let’s have at it? He lives too close to me. We’ll see what NASCAR does. If they don’t handle it right, I’ll be over at his house Monday morning.”(Virginian-Pilot)(11-5-2011)
UPDATE: NASCAR announced that they have parked Kyle Busch for the remainder of the weekend. He will not be allowed to participate in the Nationwide or Cup races at Texas. He will be replaced in the Cup race by Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin is expected to drive for him in the Nationwide race. Further penalties against Busch could be announced early in the week.(11-5-2011)
UPDATE Letter from Kyle Busch: I’ve had a lot of time today to sit and reflect, and try to put my thoughts into words as best I can. I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during Friday night’s Truck Series race at Texas. I apologize to my fans, all my sponsors, everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports. After talking with my team, it’s great to have their support and encouragement to assure me that there are better days ahead. Even though this took place while driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, I am sorry for how difficult this has been for everyone associated with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Nationwide and Sprint Cup Series teams. I’d also like to apologize to Ron Hornaday Jr., and everyone associated with the #33 team in the Truck Series. I understand why I was taken out of the car for the rest of the weekend. NASCAR officials had to act, and I accept their punishment and take full responsibility for my actions. As a racecar driver, the hardest thing to do is to sit on the sidelines listening to cars on the track when you know you should be out there competing. For this, I have no one to blame but myself. Through a lot of support from the people around me, I feel like I’ve made a lot of strides this year, but this was certainly a step backward. Moving forward, I will do everything I possibly can to represent everyone involved in a positive manner. However, I know my long-term actions will have more of a bearing than anything I say right now.(Kyle Busch Motorsports)(11-6-2011)
