NASCAR announced Tuesday that Kyle Busch has been fined $50,000 for actions following his wreck in Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Busch was cited for actions detrimental to stock car racing, a safety violation, and violation of the NASCAR member conduct guidelines under Sections 12.1.a, 12.5.2.5.a, and 12.8.a respectively in the NASCAR Cup Series rule book. Section 12.5.2.5.a specifically covers “any violations deemed to compromise the safety of an event or otherwise pose a dangerous risk to the safety of competitors, officials, spectators, or others are treated with the highest degree of seriousness.”
After contact with Austin Dillon sent him into the Turn 2 wall at Lap 125 on Sunday, Busch took his battered No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to the garage. When entering the garage, he ran over several safety cones at a notable rate of speed while near spectators.
Prior to NASCAR’s announcement, senior vice president of competition Scott Miller said that there were ongoing “internal discussions” about how to handle Busch’s actions. Miller said at the time: “We take situations of safety very seriously… Fortunately, nobody got hit or anything like that. It all worked out. But putting people in harm’s way for no reason is something that we take very seriously, so we’re taking a hard look at it.”
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