Various sources are reporting a physical confrontation between Richard Childress and Kyle Busch following a Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas City.
Numerous eyewitnesses are reporting that Childress, 65, owner of Joey Coulter’s truck and owner of Richard Childress Racing which fields four Sprint Cup cars, put Busch in a headlock and punched the 26-year old Busch.
The incident arises out of the finish where Coulter, driving for RCR, passed Busch in the closing laps shutting the door and relegating Busch down one finishing position.
Busch took offense and after the checkered flag rubbed fenders with Joey Coulter on the cool-down lap.
The RCR organization has not commented, but, a NASCAR spokesman confirmed the sanctioning body is aware of the post-race incident, however also, issued no comment pending an inquiry into the incident.
There is some bad blood between Busch and RCR drivers including a post-race incident with Kevin Harvick after the Sprint Cup race at Darlington which resulted in NASCAR probation for both Busch and Harvick.
UPDATE
NASCAR President Mike Helton said that Busch had not violated his NASCAR probation, but, Childress will likely face some penalty which will be announced Monday or Tuesday.
Helton’s statement: “Obviously after last night's incident, we began looking into it through the evening, and as recent as 15 minutes ago, meeting with different parties. We concluded that the driver of the 18 truck, Kyle Busch, did nothing to provoke or to cause the reactions that, in our opinion, would have violated probation. Did nothing that would have warranted the actions of Richard Childress.”
“And so we'll have to, once we get today's race concluded, which is the focus of today, we'll have to decide what NASCAR's reaction is to Richard Childress as a member of NASCAR in an action against another NASCAR member.”
“The biggest topic today, certainly, through the conversations outside of the incident itself was to be sure that today's event went on correctly and safely for everybody involved, and both the Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing organizations, we have made it clear to them that our expectations is that both Joe Gibbs and Richard Childress meet with their teams to be sure that nobody from their organizations felt like there was anything that needed to be done from their side.”
“So we'll focus on today's race now, and then quickly, maybe more quickly than normal, come back with our reaction as it relates to NASCAR member Richard Childress.”
That said NASCAR officials permitted Childress to remain at the track but keeping his distance from Busch and his No. 18 crew.
Here’s Kyle Busch’s reaction: “There was an altercation in the garage area -- in the Truck garage area -- on my way out to my motorhome. Fortunately, NASCAR is taking the situation seriously and is looking into it, and making their decisions based what facts they can discover.”
Numerous eyewitnesses are reporting that Childress, 65, owner of Joey Coulter’s truck and owner of Richard Childress Racing which fields four Sprint Cup cars, put Busch in a headlock and punched the 26-year old Busch.
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| Kyle Busch (18) and Joey Coulter (22) fighting hard. (LAT/NASCAR) |
The incident arises out of the finish where Coulter, driving for RCR, passed Busch in the closing laps shutting the door and relegating Busch down one finishing position.
Busch took offense and after the checkered flag rubbed fenders with Joey Coulter on the cool-down lap.
The RCR organization has not commented, but, a NASCAR spokesman confirmed the sanctioning body is aware of the post-race incident, however also, issued no comment pending an inquiry into the incident.
There is some bad blood between Busch and RCR drivers including a post-race incident with Kevin Harvick after the Sprint Cup race at Darlington which resulted in NASCAR probation for both Busch and Harvick.
UPDATE
NASCAR President Mike Helton said that Busch had not violated his NASCAR probation, but, Childress will likely face some penalty which will be announced Monday or Tuesday.
Helton’s statement: “Obviously after last night's incident, we began looking into it through the evening, and as recent as 15 minutes ago, meeting with different parties. We concluded that the driver of the 18 truck, Kyle Busch, did nothing to provoke or to cause the reactions that, in our opinion, would have violated probation. Did nothing that would have warranted the actions of Richard Childress.”
“And so we'll have to, once we get today's race concluded, which is the focus of today, we'll have to decide what NASCAR's reaction is to Richard Childress as a member of NASCAR in an action against another NASCAR member.”
“The biggest topic today, certainly, through the conversations outside of the incident itself was to be sure that today's event went on correctly and safely for everybody involved, and both the Richard Childress Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing organizations, we have made it clear to them that our expectations is that both Joe Gibbs and Richard Childress meet with their teams to be sure that nobody from their organizations felt like there was anything that needed to be done from their side.”
“So we'll focus on today's race now, and then quickly, maybe more quickly than normal, come back with our reaction as it relates to NASCAR member Richard Childress.”
That said NASCAR officials permitted Childress to remain at the track but keeping his distance from Busch and his No. 18 crew.
Here’s Kyle Busch’s reaction: “There was an altercation in the garage area -- in the Truck garage area -- on my way out to my motorhome. Fortunately, NASCAR is taking the situation seriously and is looking into it, and making their decisions based what facts they can discover.”