Ron Hornaday and Kyle Busch conflict

On Lap 13, Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday, who was in third in points 15 behind, were battling for second side by side when they approached a lapped truck in Johnny Chapman. Both Busch and Hornaday tried to go around the outside of Chapman while still side by side but Hornaday ended up getting loose and made contact with Busch and both trucks slid up into the wall in turn 2 bringing out the caution. This made Busch angry and Busch went to retaliate Hornaday by trying to turn him with Busch's spotter telling Busch to calm down and to get off of Hornaday. Unfortunately, it was too late as Busch deliberately turned Hornaday into the outside wall under caution, ending Hornaday's title hopes. NASCAR black-flagged Busch, parking him from the event.^[4] The next morning, NASCAR announced that Busch would remain parked for the remainder of the weekend, including the 2011 O'Reilly Auto Parts Challenge and the 2011 AAA Texas 500.^[5] NASCAR took this action under rules that allow it to park a driver in order to ensure the "orderly conduct of the event," an action which is not appealable.^[6] Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell stepped up to replace Busch in both the Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup series races.^[5] It was the first time since the Truck Series was launched in 1995 that NASCAR had parked a driver across all three national series, and only the third cross-series sanction in NASCAR's 64-year history.^[6] NASCAR's action mathematically eliminated Busch from contention for the Sprint Cup, though any realistic chance of him winning it ended earlier in the Chase.^[7]

Later that day, Busch issued an apology to his fans, sponsors and teammates, saying that the Texas incident was "certainly a step backward."^[8]

On November 7, NASCAR fined Busch $50,000 for "actions detrimental to stock car racing." While the sanctioning body lifted the parking directive, it placed Busch on probation for the rest of the year, saying that he would be suspended indefinitely if he committed another action "detrimental to stock car racing or to NASCAR" or "disrupts the orderly conduct of an event".^[9]