- NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was charged with careless and reckless driving on Tuesday.
- Busch was cited for going 128 mph in a 45-mph zone in a Lexus LFA.
- Busch, who could lose his driver's license temporarily, issued an apology.
MOORESVILLE, North Carolina — NASCAR driver Kyle Busch was ticketed by Iredell County police Tuesday for driving a Lexus LFA at 128 mph in a 45-mph zone.
Busch, 26, NASCAR's self-styled "bad boy," has two other traffic citations on his record and is currently on probation by NASCAR because of a dust-up with competitor Kevin Harvick during the May 7 Southern 500 at Darlington (South Carolina) Raceway.
Busch issued an apology in a statement, saying, "I was test driving a new sports car and I got carried away. I went beyond the speed I should have been going on a public road."
The statement included Busch's pledge that "something like this will never happen again."
NASCAR does not require a highway driver's license for its competitors and does not involve itself in their highway driving affairs.
"This is a matter that Kyle will have to handle with the authorities in Iredell County," spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "Based on what we know right now, this would not impact his status as a NASCAR driver."
Busch was cited for another speeding violation — a much slower one, at 44 mph in a 35-mph zone — in Iredell County in 2008. Two years before that, he was fined $150 on a reckless driving charge in Richmond, Virginia.
Busch has won two races in the Sprint Cup Series this year and ranks 3rd in driver points. He has won nine other races in the Nationwide and Camping World series. He drives Toyotas for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series and also owns his own race team.
The NASCAR circuit is on home territory this week, with the Coca-Cola 600 scheduled Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Inside Line says: Busch, one of the top drivers on the NASCAR circuit, has a lightning-rod personality. He can expect some barbs and catcalls from fans at Charlotte this weekend. — David Green, Correspondent
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tbone85 says:
06:01 AM, 05/28/2011
That is a joke, right? You're comparing the Civil Rights movement to someone who recklessly drove 3 times the posted speed limit for a thrill? Are you siting some sort of moral imperative that a privileged few people be allowed to drive 3 times the limit, or are you suggesting that the average driver be permitted to drive this fast on this particular road?
rpvitiello says:
07:17 PM, 05/27/2011
tbone85 "the law is the law" is not the right outlook either. At one point in time it was the law that back people had to get up on busses to let white people sit. Sometimes the only way to get a law changed, is to get enough people to break it and fight it at once.
tbone85 says:
03:24 PM, 05/27/2011
I don't buy it. No matter who it is, this type of relativism doesn't fly. If someone doesn't like the law then lobby the legislature to change it. If the law is some great moral issue, then protest and lobby the legislature. Ignore the law because you think you're above it? You should simply go to jail.
The law is the law. Forgotten concept.
corvettejeff1 says:
06:23 PM, 05/26/2011
Kyle Bush or not, if this was Junior Johnson hauling whiskey and speeding or Petty Sr. racing on the streets and speeding. They would just say that Crazy Ol'boy.
Now our society is getting so arrest happy and judgemental of others.
I have never had a wreck in 30 years of driving, but, I have talked my way out of several dozen tickets, mostly for doing things like Bush was doing.
I see people on any given Parkway going 30mph, who are a thousand times more dangerous.
l'll put money on the policeman who cited him, broke driving, speeding no lights, cell phones, blowing stop signs, laws withins hours of citing him. They don't abide by the laws their sworn to serve.
Don't judge me, I won't judge you. Forgotten concept.
Kyle you can get free access to tracks, try that next time and let me have a couple laps.
ZR1 of Course!
cz_75 says:
07:11 AM, 05/26/2011
There are lots of multi-lane roads other than interstates with little or no traffic that have 45mph limits. Here in OH we can only do 65, yet there are winding back roads posted 55-60mph that you'd be hard-pressed to maintain that speed and major 4-lane state highways posted anything from 35-60mph thate are the equal of interstates in construction and design.
zoomzoomn says:
07:04 AM, 05/26/2011
Good for him. He can afford the ticket, Lexus can afford the publicity and the local po-po gets to pad their coffers. It's a win-win!
mklrivowner says:
06:16 AM, 05/26/2011
If he doesn't have his lisence revoked temporarily, there will definately be some very upset people saying it is 'preferential treatment'. Which it would be.
Make him take a safe driver course, give him the fine he deserves and take his lisence for 6 months. It's what would happen to any other Joe Shmo out there with a heavy foot. And besides, he's riding cross country in a bus half the year anyway.
1198sp says:
02:40 AM, 05/26/2011
128mph is 188 feet per second. Braking distance from that speed under perfect track conditions is another 450 feet [C&D Superfour Challenge].
"self-styled bad boy"... A speeding ticket and a limp-wristed slap fight. Not exactly a modern incarnation of Bobbie Allison.
geocin333 says:
06:35 PM, 05/25/2011
if it wasn't for his name he would be sitting in jail, the car impounded, and his license pulled...... WTF..... I am hoping he was nowhere a school zone!
compressor says:
05:56 PM, 05/25/2011
coloradosilver,
I am going to apologize for the tone of my last comment.
But, I stand by my statement that road conditions do and should matter when it comes to the severity of a traffic fine/punishment. I do not condone speeding to this extent and a punishment is deserved. But, law without common sense can be equally bad.
As for Germany - They are not the end all be all for everything automotive. I do not think some area's current policy stance on monetary fines are a good idea for a multitude of reasons. It does not address living costs or familial monetary obligations and it does not factor in risk to innocent bystanders (i.e. a poor person going 50 in a school zone vs. a rich person going 10 mph over the limit on an interstate). I think it was a government financial decision sold on safety and supported by public resentment. But, that is my opinion.