Sunday, November 06, 2011

He Said It (Via Open Letter)

Kyle BuschTo all,

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 No. 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.

Sincerely,

Kyle Busch

I’ve had a lot of time this weekend as well to reflect on what happened during Friday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. Kyle Busch hooked Ron Hornaday Jr.’s rear bumper and put him into the Turn 3 wall on Lap 13 after both of them made contact with each other while lapping a slower truck as you’ll see below.

In the interview Busch gave after the incident, not only did he show no remorse for his actions but he blamed the other drivers for his wrecks during the last four races.

It’s always been about Kyle Busch and no one else ever since this man-child was wedged into the seat of the #5 by Rick Hendrick. Enough!

My thoughts are this: the old Kyle Busch would never have endangered another driver’s life and/or their championship hopes when he lost his temper. The “new” Kyle Busch crossed that line Friday night. Luckily, Hornaday Jr. was uninjured in the incident but he’ll have to wait another year to win another CWTS championship.

The reality is, an angry Kyle Busch is infinitely more dangerous to other drivers behind the wheel of a stock car than Jeremy Mayfield ever was on meth. Allegedly, of course.

I think we’ve had enough of these Busch league antics. It’s time for an intervention. While I agree with NASCAR parking Busch for the weekend, I want to see more done so this doesn’t happen again. Unfortunately we can’t get Jimmy Spencer to slug Kyle Busch like he did to his older brother Kurt, so instead I’d like to see him enrolled in an anger management program so this doesn’t ever happen again. Failing that, I’d love for his sponsors to leave him and/or for Busch to get kicked to the curb by Joe Gibbs Racing.

Losing the ability to do what he loves might be the only thing left that will get Kyle Busch’s attention that he, not the other drivers, have a problem.

11 comments:

Zebster said...

At some point it may have to come to that, RJ (parking arguably the most talented driver in the series because he's a genetic prick). I would have liked to hear him explain what he did wrong and why it happened. Maybe then I'd start to believe he's starting to get it. He actually starts the problem by attempted to pass Hornaday on the outside while Hornaday is passing a lapped car. Ron Hornaday is rarely blameless in altercations but he was here.
Maybe Joe needs to be on the radio while Busch is on the track, to holler in his ear immediately "don't even f'ing think about it" because obviously his crew chief and or spotter are unable or unwilling to do it.

Brent said...

JGR terminating Kyle Busch is not going to do anything. Do you think that Roush, Childress, Waltrip and others would not extend a ride to him? Of course not. They would be giving him the royal treatment, trying to get him to sign because he is a talented racer.

If I were Joe Gibbs, every time the Busch gets in trouble with NASCAR and it affects my team there is a flat $500,000 fine. No if ands or buts. And additional fines could be imposed based upon the circumstances.

However, if you are going to vilify Busch for his antics, then you had better vilify almost every other driver that has suited up for a NASCAR race. Harvick, Edwards, Stewart, Kenseth, and others have done the exact same thing that Busch did to Hornaday and they didn't receive the punishment that Shrub has.

I like the message that NASCAR is trying to send to Shrub, but now he can play the oppressed because where are the corresponding parking of other drivers for a couple of NASCAR sanctioned races when they intentionally crashed other drivers. NASCAR with their have at it boys era have caused the punishment phase of the racing to become even more selective and non-uniform. After the season, the powers of NASCAR need to figure out how to put in place more uniform penalties for racers that deliberately dump others into the wall.

Zebster said...

I don't care what Nascar says publicly, Brent, they parked Kyle because this is like the 10th time in a short period of time that he's done this (and other things), plus the fact IMHO this particular incident was completely Kyle's fault, unprovoked by Hornaday. You couldn't even begin to call that a "racing incident," and I'm talking about what happened before Kyle wrecked him. So I think given the fact that he's been on probation before, as have the others you mentioned (and they've calmed down) and Kyle hasn't that they've been completely fair on this one.
Honestly, Ron Hornaday should be able to handle this himself and then I can promise you Kyle will think twice before he screws with him again. There are times when I think you should let that little puke get his f'ing ass handed to him. The problem is that there are very few drivers in Nascar these days who are big enough to dish it out. Back in the day, DE, Kyle Petty, Jimmy Spencer and a few others could. Then if you go back to the big sedan era, they all could.

dasnake said...

kyle may learn something here, this is the second time mars has put out a statement concerning him, jgr cannot afford to lose this sponser.

dasnake said...

just watched the hub, kyle got a 50,000 dollar fine and another probation, if he does anything detrimental to nascar for the rest of the season they will pull a mayfield on him and suspend him indefinatly. i think that is enough, i also think hornaday was his own author. but kyle pulling this in a caution was way off base, to bad, and he has to remember, nascar does not need kyle, kyle needs nascar, it took away from a fine points race in the trucks, and it took away from the nationwide series and a first win from one of the young up and comers, young trevor bayne. there is a fine race to the end of the chase, great racing by carl and tony.

dasnake said...

"On November 10, ESPN's David Newton reported that M&M's, the primary sponsor for Busch's Sprint Cup team, wanted its name off the car for the last two races of the 2011 season. M&M's maker, Mars, Incorporated, had harshly criticized Busch's behavior in Texas. Newton said that this has led Joe Gibbs Racing to open talks with Aric Almirola about taking over for Busch for the last two Sprint Cup races. Earlier, Z-Line Designs asked that Hamlin take over as the driver for Busch's Nationwide Series team. Later that night, however, it was decided that Busch would remain as the driver for the Sprint Cup team, but secondary sponsor Interstate Batteries will be the sole sponsor for the final two races of 2011. M&M's would return as sponsor for the 2012 season."

that quote is the latest i can find out about the next race saturday. kyle had better watch his ass now, i don't know what the outcome will be about denny driving the race tomorrow, but this isn't going to get any better if he doesn't watch out, one thing i would like is trevor winning tomorrow, boy i like that kid.

Zebster said...

Good work, Snake. That takes the "Nascar doesn't need you" to a whole new level when the sponsors don't want you. Thanks, I haven't been following the last couple of days (writing Marine Corps birthday blogs on my other blog instead)

dasnake said...
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dasnake said...
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dasnake said...

marine corps blogs on veterans day, cool, our rememberance day service was quite fullfilling also, 11/11//11 at 11 am. dec 7th will be quite interesting this year, 70th anniversary, good on ya zeb.

dasnake said...

well, it happens to the best, sadler did not deserve that ending but that's racing, decent race though, tomorrow will be fun, the place is sold out, cya'all tomorrow.