NASCAR Suspends Kyle Busch From Texas Races for Wrecking Hornaday
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Kyle Busch was suspended Saturday by NASCAR from the rest of the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for intentionally sending championship contender Ron Hornaday Jr. into the wall during the Camping World Truck Series race Friday night.
The ban put Busch out of Saturday's Nationwide Series race and Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race. He currently sits seventh in the Chase for the Sprint Cup standings.
His suspension was announced Saturday morning by NASCAR president Mike Helton, Yahoo! Sports reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said officials had "decided to maintain" the parked position which was issued to Busch in Friday's race "for the balance of the weekend."
Helton clarified, "So basically what that means is that Kyle Busch will not be participating [Saturday or Sunday] in the NASCAR event here in Texas."
Busch, who was not eligible to win the Truck title, ended Hornaday's hopes of glory early Friday night, crashing into the rear of his vehicle after just 14 laps of the Winstar World Casino 400.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Busch was upset about contact from Hornaday that led to Busch scraping the wall, FOX Sports Southwest reported.
That incident brought out the caution, setting the stage for Busch to retaliate. The next time he got to Hornaday on Lap 14, he got on his bumper and sent him into the wall under caution.
"I ended up losing my cool," Busch said. "I've been wrecked four weeks in a row, and finally, I just had enough of it. I'm sorry it was Ron Hornaday, and he's going after a championship, but the fact of the matter is you can't place all of the blame on one person to begin with. There were two people that got into it to begin with, and there were two people that ended it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}While Busch was parked by NASCAR and Hornaday was eliminated from title contention, Sprint Cup veteran Kevin Harvick motored to victory in the No. 2 Hunter Brothers Pizza Chevrolet.
While Harvick was pleased with the victory and busy clinching the owner's title for Kevin Harvick Incorporated by virtue of Busch's night ending early, he was more upset at Busch than anything else because he is the owner of the No. 33 Chevy that Busch sent into the wall.
Harvick, who now has 13 victories in the NCWTS, said Friday, "Kyle definitely showed his immaturity tonight. If he's not winning a race, he's pouting and throwing a fit. It's one of those things -- he's going to grow up, or he's going to have some swollen eyes."