NASCAR Chairman Brian France signaled that Kyle Busch and Joey Logano likely won’t face severe penalties, if any at all, for their altercation after Sunday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
France, speaking on “Tradin’ Paint’’ on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio said of the incident:
“We’re going to have moments. We just shouldn’t come out of our chairs over this. It is what it is. The drivers are doing everything they can.
“The pressure on these guys today is so difficult. So it shouldn’t surprise anybody that every once in a while somebody is going to boil over, somebody is going to think that they saw an incident in a different way and, whether it’s true or not true doesn’t matter, emotions are going to get the best of them. That’s just part of it.’’
France also addressed the subject of retaliation, which Busch hinted at in his interview with Fox Sports after the race.
“There will be no retaliation,’’ France said. “That will not be happening. That’s not going to happen anyway. The drivers understand what we did a couple of years at Martinsville (suspending Matt Kenseth two races for wrecking Logano), that is unacceptable. So what happens on the track, good or for bad for one driver or another, that’s where it stays, and we move on to the next event.
“My guess is that Kyle and Joey will sort that out, and there really won’t be anything that we need to worry about down the road. If there is, we’ll deal with it.
“We also want to be realistic, there is just a lot of emotion and a lot of pressure on these guys to do well and compete at a high level. When something goes terribly wrong, as it did for Kyle, you know, emotions are going to get the best of all of us at some point or another. Obviously, that’s what happened on Sunday.’’
Busch walked to Logano’s car after Sunday’s race and swung at the driver. Logano’s crew members interceded as Logano was held back. A NASCAR official pulled Busch, bleeding from a cut on his forehead, from the scrum.
The incident started on the last lap when Busch tried to pin Logano on the bottom of the backstretch to get by Brad Keselowski’s ailing car. Logano said that action caused him to fight the handling of his car in Turn 3, and his car went up the track and hit Busch’s car, sending it spinning. Busch finished 22nd. Logano placed fourth.
Earlier Monday, Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR’s executive vice president and chief racing development officer, said on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that officials planned to meet with Busch and Logano before they got on track this weekend at Phoenix International Raceway.
