KB Visits Church of the Painful Truth

In case you’ve been in a cave or asleep since Friday night, you know about what happened at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ron Hornaday was racing for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series title, Kyle Busch was getting knocked around a little bit in traffic. Busch took exception, lost his cool and pounded Hornaday into a spin and wall-banging that essentially ended his pursuit of a 47th NCWTS title…oops, I meant seventh. It just seems like 47.

OK, you’re saying, ‘Just another Friday night in the Truck Series,’ right? Well, sort of, but not really.

NASCAR parked Busch for the remainder of the race and, after talking about it for a while, told Kyle to drink a Coke, sit down and think about the wicked that he done…for the rest of the weekend.

Now, for NASCAR to use this penalty was telling. It says that Kyle Busch has done used up his free passes, and the pocketbook option is right out. From here, it’s gonna mean loss of seat time and, if necessary, longer suspensions.

They did it to Kevin Harvick after a New Hampshire race in which he climbed the hood of a race car and started wailing on Greg Biffle, and it seems to have…not had much effect at all, really. Ironically, Harvick won the race Friday and Hornaday was driving a KHI Truck.

Stir that up in a pot and reckon what it smells like…irony is funny stuff.

Anyway, young Master Busch stepped up and owned it, took the penalty with good grace and even asked his team if he could be on top of the pit box for the race. Michael McDowell was the fill-in, and predictably, he couldn’t drive Kyle’s car the way KBShow does. Nobody’s fault, but they finished 33rd.

He was eliminated from the Chase mathematically, by the way (duh!).

What remains to be seen is what other sanctions fall out of the NASCAR tree. He could be parked for the rest of the year, all two races of it, or he could be back come Phoenix with the proviso that if he so much as touches another car or looks crossways at another driver, he’ll be painting the crash walls at Tucson Raceway Park for the next six months.

Now, old friend John Close made a good point this morning in his weekly rundown of the race. Why is Kyle Busch being benched for races in series where he hasn’t parked a points contender in a fit of pique?

For my money, I’d say park him for the rest of the season in the Truck Series and hang a four-race ban in 2012 on it, then call it a day.

News just broke that NASCAR has fined him $50,000 and placed him on (double-secret) NASCAR probation through the end of the year. He is cleared to drive at PIR and Homestead, with NASCAR promising to cast a gimlet eye on his on-track conduct every time he leaves pit road.

It’s not unusual for object lessons to be delivered via Robin Pemberton, and the message was sent loud and proud to Busch.

It was an odd thing for him to do, really. I had thought that he had matured a bit this year, taking the high road for the most part, with the possible exception of Darlington. It is still my contention that Harvick was more at fault than Busch was at Darlington; feel free to disagree.

Actually, and I know this is going to generate a bit of an uproar, I think Busch and Harvick are very similar in a lot of ways. Both are hot-headed, not afraid to use the bumper (fenders, whatever’s handy) to communicate and not above getting busy one on one if the situation calls for it.

There is a feeling that either one will go all Ricky Bobby on you for some reason known only to them.

There’s more to this later, but please remember to post your comments. It’s going to be a ride from here to Homestead.