CONCORD, N.C. — Kyle Busch apologized repeatedly Thursday for showing a “lack of judgment” in driving 128 mph in a 45-mph zone in a borrowed Lexus.
Busch was cited for careless and reckless driving and speeding following a Tuesday stop. He was driving a nearly $400,000 bright yellow Lexus.
In his scheduled media session at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Busch apologized several times for the joy ride and said he would not make the mistake again.
“I’m certainly sorry that it happened,” he said. “All I can do is apologize to the public, my friends, my fans and my sponsors. I’ll look at this experience as a learning experience and move forward.”
The citation shows that Busch allegedly told the officer who stopped him that the Lexus was “just a toy,” but he seemed to realize the flippancy of that remark Thursday.
“It wasn’t a toy, it’s a high-performance vehicle,” Busch said. “It should be driven with caution. Obviously, I didn’t have caution and I had a lack of judgment.
“There’s probably a 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.”
Lexus parent company Toyota sponsors the Joe Gibbs Racing team that Busch drives for, and the 2012 Lexus LFA was loaned to both Busch and Denny Hamlin this week. Hamlin tweeted a picture of the car the day before Busch was ticketed with the post, “If u see me today in ur rear view driving this Please move!!”
The LFA is hand-built in Japan, and only 87 of the 500 scheduled vehicles have been built.
Of the 87 completed, only 20 are in the United States and all are privately owned. Lexus has two cars available as demos, and Busch was driving one of them. The cars are usually made available to potential buyers at test tracks on weekends, but that did not accommodate Busch and Hamlin’s schedules, so one was made available to them, said Lexus spokesperson Nancy Hubbell.
“He returned the car, nobody got hurt and for that we’re grateful,” Hubbell said. “We know that he is definitely remorseful.”
NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs found no amusement in Busch’s adventure.
“It’s a serious issue,” Gibbs said, declining to say whether Busch will be punished but acknowledging that the driver won’t be suspended.
Because NASCAR does not require competitors to have a valid driver’s license, the sanctioning body said it would not be disciplining Busch. According to information from the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, a conviction could cost Busch his driver’s license for 60 days.
There was mixed reaction in the garage area Thursday about Busch’s infraction.
“I’ve probably been guilty of the same thing myself, just didn’t get caught,” said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who then backed off of having ever driven 128 mph on a public road.
“I don’t really know if I got that fast. I didn’t know we had enough straight road in North Carolina to get going that quick. Apparently, there’s a piece somewhere.”
Five-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson also was sympathetic to Busch. While not condoning the speed, Johnson said high-performance vehicles are built for drivers who “stand on the gas.”
“We as drivers aren’t necessarily wired the same,” he said.
But Kevin Harvick, who has been openly feuding with Busch of late, and Ryan Newman were not as forgiving.
“I think some people are their own worst enemy when it comes to being responsible as a person or as a businessperson or anything that comes with life’s responsibilities,” said Harvick, who added he tends to go under the speed limit.
Newman said Busch should have known better.
“We’re supposed to be professional race car drivers, and by being professional race car drivers we don’t make stupid mistakes like that on the road,” Newman said. “That’s the way I look at it.”
