He might be the hot driver heading closer to the Chase, and I have called him a punk for his behavior, while also admitting he’s an insanely talented driver.

But the punk-part caught up with the driver of the # 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota.

NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch has lost his driver’s license for 45 days in a trafic court case stemming from his high-speed joy ride in a luxury car.

Kyle pled guilty to speeding and no contest to reckless and careless driving in North Carolina District Court in Iredell County.

Busch was also was fined $1,000,  and sentenced to 30 hours of community service and put on one year of unsupervised probation.

The fine and license suspension, for the moment, will have no impact on his NASCAR activity.

Joe Gibbs has hinted in the past his driver’s off-track episodes might earn team sanctions, but there has been nothing new on that for several months.

Busch addressed the court before his sentencing by District Court Judge H. Thomas Church, apologizing again for driving 128 mph in a 45 mph zone in a bright yellow 2012 Lexus back on May 24.

“I think you’ll be different in the future,” Church said. “I sure will, your honor,” Busch replied.

Busch and his wife, Samantha, were in the car when he was pulled over on  a two-lane road in an area near a subdivision, a day-care center and a church. The hand-built LFA sports car is valued at nearly $400,000 and was on loan to Busch from Lexus.

Busch attorney Cliff Homesley argued that his client wasn’t being treated the same as other people in similar circumstances, citing a July case of a  21-year-old convicted felon who was caught doing 128 mph and received a $300 and  no loss of license.

“In 25 years of practicing law I’ve never seen someone not being offered  better than this,” Homesley argued before the court. “All I am asking is to  treat Kyle Busch like any other citizen that appears before the court.”

Homesley, calling Busch one of the best drivers in the world, said: “He had full control of that vehicle at all times.

“That automobile in his hands was like a scalpel in the hands of a  surgeon. Not a knife in the hands of a 5-year-old.”

Busch told the deputy who pulled him over the Lexus was “just a toy.”  He apologized for that remark and the incident in a media session two days later.

“I’m certainly sorry that it happened,” he said. “It wasn’t a toy, it’s a   high-performance vehicle. It should be driven with caution. Obviously, I didn’t  have caution and I had a lack of judgment.

“There’s probably reason why on the TV commercials that they always show  at the bottom, ‘Professional driver, closed course.’ Mine was not that. Again, I apologize sincerely. All I can do is make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Busch will do his community service with the teen safe-driving program B.R.A.K.E.S., which was developed by another former Raceline Radio guest, drag racer Doug Herbert.

Herbert’s two sons were killed in a 2008 traffic accident attributed to speeding, and the drag racer established the “Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe” program to teach teenagers safety behind the wheel

Busch agreed to sponsor 300 students in the program, as well as  participate in some of the sessions.

Thanks to ESPN for the quotes and some of the text!

ET

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011 at 4:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.