Kyle Busch: ‘Sorry I Lost My Cool’ In Texas Race

Kyle Busch apologized to his team and NASCAR for his midrace meltdown at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, which culminated with him flipping off a NASCAR official on national television.

Busch had been caught speeding while trying to beat the pace car off pit road and was therefore penalized one lap by NASCAR.

But when he pulled into his pit, ESPN’s in-car camera showed Busch displaying his middle finger – and holding it up for several seconds – at the NASCAR official in his pit box.

He screamed obscenities on the team radio and crew chief Dave Rogers yelled back, attempting to calm him down. After NASCAR saw his “unsportsmanlike” gesture toward one of its officials, though, it slapped Busch with a two-lap penalty.

After the race, Busch said he regretted the incident.

“I’m sorry I lost my cool,” he said, directing his apology to “everybody on this team, everybody at NASCAR and all my (sponsors) that support me.”

Busch said he wasn’t sure if the in-car camera was responsible for getting him penalized, but said in the heat of the moment, “I had no worries about a camera inside the car at that point.”

The short-tempered Joe Gibbs Racing driver said he was frustrated after a sequence of events which had him get wrecked and then get caught speeding.

“You get spun out and wrecked like that and you’re not supposed to lose your cool – I mean, hello,” he said. “...I apologize to all of my guys for letting them down and for getting so behind today that we could never make it up.”