Team Owner Joe Gibbs Responds To NASCAR’s Decision To Suspend Kyle Busch

Following NASCAR’s decision to suspend Kyle Busch for the remainder of the weekend’s events at Texas Motor Speedway, Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs met with the media to address the situation.

“We met this morning with NASCAR and they explained their situaton and decision, and after that sometimes in life you have to deal with real tough things,” he said. “This was a tough situation for us.”

Gibbs said his organization is trying to go through the process of meeting with all parties involved in Friday night’s incident and “handle everything in the right way.”

Despite the fact Busch was not driving a JGR truck in Friday night’s event, Gibbs still took “full responsibility” for his driver’s actions.

“I met with Kyle in his motorhome this morning, I think it was one of those personal conversations you have when a real tough situation like this comes up,” he said.

With sponsors, primarily M&Ms, expressing frustrations over previous incidents with Busch, Gibbs said he hasn’t even had a chance to go through meeting with the team’s partners to discuss the weekend’s events – but plans on doing so throughout the weekend.

Gibbs commended NASCAR’s decision and handling of the situation, saying he “always trusts NASCAR.”

“They always do a great job to manage the sport and it has grown because of them and the way they handle it,” he said. “I have great faith in the decisions they make. We’ve been a part of this for a long time and love it, love being a part of it and love the sport. I think this sport is where it is because of NASCAR and the way they handle things.”

“This was a tough one for us,” he added. “Sometimes life gives you tough things and you don’t like it, but we’re certainly going to try and work our way through this one and do the right thing and handle it the right way.”

Gibbs also confirmed Denny Hamlin would drive the No. 18 Toyota in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race, with Michael McDowell taking Busch’s place in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event.