Petty, Dunlap React to Kyle Busch’s Suspension at Texas

Kyle Busch enters the NASCAR trailer and gets read the riot act

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NASCAR drew a line in the sand Saturday morning at Texas Motor Speedway by suspending Kyle Busch from Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race for his actions in Friday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race. Busch intentionally wrecked Truck Series championship contender Ron Hornaday, Jr. early in Friday’s Truck Series race after the two got together racing for position. Busch’s retaliation relegated Hornaday to a 34th-place finish and eliminated him from championship contention.

NASCAR immediately parked Busch for the remainder of the Truck Series race, briefly met with him and stated they would review the matter and again meet with Busch Saturday morning. The sanctioning body emerged from that meeting to announce it had suspended Busch from the remainder of the weekend’s events.

Below, SPEED reporter Ray Dunlap, who interviewed Busch post-race Friday night live on SPEED, and SPEED analyst Kyle Petty react to the news:

“One of the more intriguing things about my job is reading the non-verbals in drivers, and by looking in Kyle’s eyes when he stepped out to be interviewed last night, I was aware he had already come to the realization he made a major mistake and this would be more than a slap on the wrist. He knew NASCAR would make a big example out of him. It was evident in his eyes and the way he held his posture. I’ve known Kyle for a long time and I could tell that he knew he was in trouble, despite what he said in the interview. But I respected the fact he came out and talked to us last night because he could have stayed sequestered and refused to talk. But he faced the music and came out for the questioning.

“I don’t think, though, that this necessarily sets a precedent for future circumstances between drivers who retaliate against each other. Drivers never know exactly what is acceptable and what isn’t. At Martinsville last week, certain aggressive moves and reactions were tolerated and no penalties were given. But that was a different track with different circumstances and drivers."
–Ray Dunlap, SPEED reporter

“NASCAR got Kyle’s punishment right today. While many are saying on-track retaliation has gotten out of hand across the sport lately and something has to be done about it, I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think the history of Kyle’s action in the past, right, wrong or indifferent, forced NASCAR’s hand on this one. NASCAR drew a line with Kyle specifically, but I don’t think this tells us anything about where the line is in general when it comes to ‘Boys, have at it’ and all the on-track aggressiveness we’ve seen lately. But I will say that there is nothing worse than sitting in the motorhome lot watching someone else drive your car. That will be a tough one for Kyle to swallow. But whether or not it drives home the point to him, only time will tell."
–Kyle Petty, SPEED analyst