Busch may have turned in his lowest of lows on Friday night during the NASCAR Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. After getting a little tangled up with Ron Hornaday, Busch decided to take things into his own hands as the caution flew.
He sped up to right behind Hornaday where he got into Hornaday’s truck some. As Hornaday began to get loose, Busch delivered the knockout when he nudged Hornaday’s bed as he was turning, thus forcing him into the wall, head-on no less. If you haven’t seen it, see the move below.
Luckily, Hornaday was OK after the wreck. His championship standings may have taken a beating (more on that in a bit) as the wreck ended his night, but he was able to walk away. Busch was sent right to the garage.
In short, it was a pathetic showing from one of the more hated drivers in NASCAR, a driver who seemingly revels in being the bad boy on the circuit. But when Busch starts pulling stunts like these — at incredible speeds — it’s time to teach him a lesson.
If the drivers had it their way, that lesson would come in an old-fashioned way.
“That’s just ignorant and stupid,” Hornaday said Friday night, according to USA Today. “I don’t know what you want to call it. He’s such a candy-ass. He won’t stay around to get a whooping like he’s supposed to get. It’s a shame. It’s not like I did anything wrong. I ran him down from a straightaway. He knew I was faster.”
Hornaday’s boss, Sprint Cup driver and truck team owner Kevin Harvick, shared in his employee’s disdain for Busch’s childish acts. Harvick, who was also running in the Truck Series race, didn’t mince words as it happened.
“Kyle Busch is going to get his ass whipped, I hope,” he said on the in-race radio, according to USA Today. “He better sit in his motor home. I’m going to find him.”
Busch wasn’t going to hide from what he did either. He acknowledged after the wreck that frustrations have gotten the best of him, as well as a little foolish pride apparently.
“If I just lay over and give up everything for Ron Hornaday, that’s not Kyle Busch’s fashion. I’m out here to win a race just as much as anyone else is,” he told SPEED, who was broadcasting the race.
“I ended up losing my cool. I’ve been wrecked four weeks in a row, and finally I just had enough of it.”
So, because Busch lost his cool and had enough of things, he decided to intentionally wreck another driver. In short, the move was “Busch league” at best.
Unfortunately, the wishes of Hornaday and Harvick won’t come true. It’s unlikely that someone is going to hunt down Busch and teach him the lesson he’s had coming to him for so long. That burden, then, will have to fall on the shoulders of NASCAR.
Often, NASCAR decides to look the other way when it comes to in-race discipline. “Boys will be boys,” is the usual retort, and in most cases, they’re right. It takes a certain breed to get into a car or a truck and race around three- or four-wide at absurd speeds, and as Dan Wheldon‘s death reminded us, you always know the risks.
NASCAR can’t let this one slide, though. It’s one thing to do a little rubbing. After all, rubbin’ is racin’. But what Busch did on Friday night was intentionally try to — and succeed to — wreck another racer at one of the faster tracks on the circuit.
Making matters worse, Hornday entered Friday’s race 15 points behind the Truck Series leader Austin Dillon. Hornaday’s championship chances are on life support after wrecking on Lap 15 with just one race left on the season.
That will take a backseat to the bigger issue here. Luckily, Hornaday’s championship chances were the only thing severely hurt on Friday night in Texas.
Busch likely won’t get the beating he deserves from one of his colleagues, so it’s on NASCAR to finally send him the message he’ll actually listen to. Otherwise, his next stunt may cost someone more than just a championship.
