Kyle Busch Apologizes For Reckless Driving

NASCAR driver Kyle Busch said yesterday he'll try to make sure he doesn't have any more lapses in judgment off the race track. That's how he characterized driving 128 miles per hour in a 45-mph zone in Iredell County earlier this week. The area where Busch raced 83 miles per hour above the speed limit includes a few neighborhoods, two churches and a day care center. He was test driving a Lexus sports car, and his wife was in the passenger seat. "Fortunately there was no one hurt, but that doesn't make any kind of excuse for what happened and for my lack in judgment and for what I did," Busch said yesterday at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. He spoke at a press conference pre-arranged for this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 race. He says the $375,000 car Lexus loaned him is a high performance vehicle that should be driven with caution. "Obviously I didn't have caution and I had a lack in judgment," Busch said. "There's probably a reason why in TV commercials and such they always show at the bottom - 'professional driver, closed course.' And mine was not that." A sheriff's deputy pulled over Busch between Mooresvillle and Troutman on Perth Road. The deputy gave Busch a ticket and did not take him to jail, but Busch may lose his driver's license. His employer, Joe Gibbs, was also at the Charlotte Motor Speedway yesterday. "Our first thought on everything was the serious nature of it," Gibbs said. "Everybody can kind of see the ramifications of the fact that it was serious. That's why and how we're dealing with it." Gibbs said his racing team is determining the right response to Busch's reckless driving. But he won't keep Busch from racing in this weekend's Coca-Cola 600.