Kyle Busch Says No Malicious Intent With Joey Coulter, Takes High Road On Richard Childress Incident

Shortly after team owner Richard Childress issued a statement on his fine handed down by NASCAR earlier this week, Kyle Busch explained there was no intent to damage Joey Coulter’s truck and he was never warned by Childress.

Calling his post-race incident on the cool-down lap with Coulter a "congratulatory bump," Busch said had he not rolled out of the throttle racing in the fourth turn, both he and Coulter would have wrecked. Childress took issue with the bump and went after Busch in the garage.

"There can be an easy way to interpret things some times and it seems like maybe I’m on the wrong side of those interpretations a lot of those times," Busch said. "There was no malicious intent to be involved in hurting or damaging a RCR vehicle."

Had Childress come to him and explained he was upset about the situation, Busch said he would have gladly given him money to fix the damage to Coulter’s truck.

Busch also said he never received a threat from Childress saying he would come after him if he wrecked another RCR car, including in the NASCAR hauler following the incident with Kevin Harvick in Darlington.

"I don’t recall any time in a face-to-face conversation where Richard did tell me, ‘If you touch another one of my cars, I’m going to come find you,’" he said. "I don’t know if it was ever said in the media, but it was never relayed to me."

Struggling with off-track issues the past few weeks, Busch said he cannot read whether people in the garage have lost respect for him.

"Whether it’s the case they’re not being true to my face, I don’t know," he said. "I’m not in people’s minds. If you’re mad at me, you’ll have to tell me."

Busch said he has had an outpouring of support to pay his fine from the issue in Darlington, but has put that money toward the Kyle Busch Foundation. Often seen as the ‘bad guy’ in the garage, Busch explained that image was not one he deserved.

"I feel like I’ve acted with the utmost respect with every situation that’s come up in front of me (this season) and been thrown in front of me," he said. "I’ve tried to do it with dignity and class."