Richard Childress Assault On Kyle Busch To Result In NASCAR Penalty

NASCAR will penalize team owner Richard Childress today for attacking Kyle Busch at Kansas Speedway last weekend, with the announcement of Childress' punishment likely coming within the next couple hours.

In the meantime, let's take a look at what happened between Busch and Childress that led the six-time Sprint Cup championship team owner to take his aggression out on Busch.

Busch, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, has had several run-ins with Richard Childress Racing drivers over the years. Since Darlington, though, Childress' blood has been boiling at the 26-year-old who can't seem to stay out of the spotlight.

At Darlington, Busch wrecked RCR's Kevin Harvick on the frontstretch – an incident which also took out Childress driver Clint Bowyer. After the race, Harvick approached Busch's car to punch him on pit road, so Busch pushed Harvick's car into the wall to get away from the situation.

Both drivers were placed on probation until Michigan. But Childress, as you can imagine, was quite upset at the situation. And this wasn't the first time Busch had run afoul of an RCR driver – after last year's Coca-Cola 600, even mild-mannered Jeff Burton yelled at Busch on pit road for being overly aggressive on the track.

Then came Saturday's Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas.

Toward the end of the race, Busch was racing hard with RCR's Joey Coulter – and got passed at the finish. Busch then slammed into the side of Coulter's truck on the cool-down lap, and that apparently was the last straw for Childress.

The 65-year-old grandfather walked to Busch's team transporter in the Truck Series garage. Sources said he then removed his watch and handed it to grandson Austin Dillon – who also drives in the Truck Series – and approached Busch to begin the beat-down.

Though some reports said Busch mouthed off before getting hit, NASCAR said the driver did nothing to provoke the attack.

Childress put Busch into a headlock and punched him three times; Busch fell to the ground in a defensive position to avoid further contact. But when Busch then tried to stand up, sources said, Childress took another swing at him.

That's gotten everyone to the point we're at today: NASCAR has said it will not penalize Busch, but Childress will undoubtedly face sanctions. The team owner was permitted to remain at Kansas Speedway for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race, but only because there was no other team official there.

Stay tuned for more.

• Poll: Fans let their opinion be known on the Busch/Childress incident

• Reaction: Busch offers his first public comments on the altercation

• Statement: NASCAR says Childress was to blame for the fight