NASCAR: Richard Childress At Fault In Kyle Busch Incident, Will Face Penalty

NASCAR considered ejecting team owner Richard Childress from the track after he repeatedly punched driver Kyle Busch following Saturday's Truck Series race, but elected to allow Childress to remain at Kansas Speedway to oversee his teams in today's STP 400.

Busch, meanwhile, "did nothing to provoke or to cause...(or) warranted the actions of Richard Childress," NASCAR President Mike Helton said in a Sunday morning news conference.

Childress will face a penalty from NASCAR on Monday, Helton said.

"We'll quickly come back with our reaction as it relates to NASCAR member Richard Childress," he said.

The news conference followed a Sunday morning meeting between NASCAR officials, Childress, Busch and Busch's Sprint Cup Series team owner, Joe Gibbs.

Officials had Gibbs at the meeting because they wanted to make sure both he and Childress told their teams that no further actions against one another would be tolerated.

Busch had made contact with RCR driver Joey Coulter on the cool-down lap of Saturday's Truck race – apparently drawing Childress' ire – but Helton said Busch did nothing on the track to violate the probation he earned for a post-race incident with RCR's Kevin Harvick at Darlington.

Additionally, Helton said Busch's actions in the Kansas garage – where he was assaulted by Childress, according to sources – were nothing that would have crossed the line of his probation.

"Unless you know something we don't know, I'm not sure what (Busch) did in the garage that would have been in question," Helton said in response to a reporter who asked why Busch wasn't penalized for his role in the Childress altercation.

Helton said NASCAR decided not to eject Childress from the track – although it was considered – because there is no other RCR team official at Kansas. There will be restrictions on where Childress can travel on the track property today, Helton said.

"We decided to let Richard stay, because there does need to be leadership of an organization represented," Helton said. "... We decided we'd be better if there was an authority from the team here."

Here is the official statement on the incident from NASCAR:

NASCAR has reviewed the incident involving Richard Childress and Kyle Busch after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race Saturday at Kansas Speedway. We have met with all parties involved and have determined what happened yesterday is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by NASCAR.

Richard Childress's actions were not appropriate and fell far short of the standard we expect of owners in this sport. We have met with Childress this morning and made our position very clear to him. Further, we expect he will make it clear to all in his organization to ensure this situation does not escalate any further. We will announce our actions regarding this incident Monday.

Kyle Busch remains on probation with NASCAR and we continue to watch his actions carefully. However, we have determined that Kyle's involvement in this incident does not violate his probation and no further action is required.

Related: Kyle Busch was in no-win situation when Childress angrily approached (Opinion)