FORT WORTH, Texas -- Coming into Sunday's AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, it looked as if Kyle Busch might have the car to beat.

Then the driver of the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing proceeded to beat himself so others didn't have to do it for him.

“

I think that's just an area that in general and in life he's going to have to address -- and I think he knows that and that's nothing new. We've just got to make sure it happens sooner rather than later.

”

-- J.D. GIBBS

Oh, he didn't initially take the blame for it. Caught speeding by NASCAR as he exited pit road on Lap 159, Busch exploded on the team radio with a string of expletives and then compounded his misery by flashing an obscene gesture to a NASCAR official.

Instead of simply having to go to the tail end of the longest line to serve the speeding penalty, which would have left him at the end of the group of cars on the lead lap, Busch was penalized two laps for making the gesture. And there could be more to come according to Kerry Tharp, NASCAR's director of communications, competition.

"Any time you make an obscene or inappropriate gesture to one of our officials, which he did, you're subject to penalty," Tharp said. "We penalized him during the course of the race. We held him two laps. But I tell you what, we're going to go back this week when we get to Concord, N.C., and we're going to review this situation and there could be further penalties regarding the No. 18 car."

Officials told Busch's team during the race that the driver was being penalized for "unsportsmanlike conduct." Although Tharp said Busch was penalized for the gesture, the official post-race infraction sheet stated that it was for "verbal abuse to a NASCAR official" as well as noting the obscene gesture.

The incident occurred one day after Busch stormed out of the media center at TMS following the Nationwide Series race, upset over his belief that race winner Carl Edwards had illegally jumped the final restart and gotten away with it. He used swear words both during the brief media center interview and also in an earlier post-race radio interview, although it was edited out on the radio.

Tharp said any further penalties assessed to Busch would come as a result of what happened Sunday, not Saturday.

"Well, I think [Saturday] was [Saturday] during the Nationwide race," Tharp said. "Certainly we are aware of what happened. But [Sunday], I think, is a different incident and we'll take a look at it on its own merit."

J.D. Gibbs, president of the Joe Gibbs Racing team that owns Busch's No. 18 Toyota, expressed regret for Busch's actions.

"I think overall it's just he did something there that got caught on TV," Gibbs said. "Everyone saw it and I think it was their way of saying, 'Hey, here's our game; if you want to play, here are the rules you play by.' (Continued)