NASCAR Cup Series

Busch admits he 'went too far'

Published Jul. 17, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Ok, so maybe he went a bit too far.

Kyle Busch has issued a clarification on comments he made following Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Busch was incensed with driver Ryan Newman following the race and, when asked about Newman's role in an incident with Kyle’s older brother Kurt, words like “idiot” and “ogre” followed.

“I mean Ryan Newman's the biggest stupid idiot out here, and he's a big ogre and can do whatever he wants because he can probably kick anybody's butt,” he said. “So no sense in getting in a fight with him, but glad he's out of a job."

It was the final remark that has led to an apology from the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

First, through his Twitter account, he clarified what angered him to start with in the race.

“I want to clarify that I was answering what I felt was two separate questions asked to me at the same time in an interview following the race in Loudon,” he wrote. “The first was about how fast Kurt was and the second was how I felt about Ryan Newman blaming me for him getting wrecked.

“First I answered the Kurt part. He was fast... Great to see them running well... Was a shame to see him crashed... Nowhere there did I place blame on who wrecked who. I didn't see it and I still haven't seen it.”

The part for which he cast blame, he pointed out, was an incident he himself had with Newman in the race – a comment he says he made “in the same response, but it was intended as a completely separate answer.

“I was upset because I felt RN raced me poorly, making contact and causing damage to my RF fender that affected the handling on my racecar. This isn't the first time that I've been raced poorly by RN either, which added to my frustration.”

Newman wasn’t too thrilled either, pointing out on Sirius XM Radio on Tuesday in comments widely reported that Busch was a “heck of a talent but he's not very bright.”

Late Tuesday, Busch’s Twitter clarification conceded that he had crossed the line in some of his biting remarks.

“All this built up and allowed my emotions to spill over for how I felt,” his lengthy tweet concluded. “I'm not sorry for how I feel in those moments, but could have expressed it better and certainly my comments about someone's livelihood went too far.”