Kurt Busch Fined $50,000 by NASCAR for Gesture and Tirade

Kurt Busch's adventurous final race day Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway has produced yet another negative reaction.

NASCAR took the unusual action of announcing a major fine against Busch Friday, saying Busch's actions during the Homestead race will cost him a $50,000 fine.

Busch made an obscene hand gesture -- caught by an in-car camera -- after his transmission blew early in the Ford 400. A few minutes later, while waiting to be interviewed by television reporter Jerry Punch, Busch unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at Punch and his camera crew, ultimately leading Punch to walk away without doing the interview.

NASCAR said late Friday afternoon that it hit Busch with the fine for his "poor judgment in making an inappropriate hand gesture" and because he showed "disrespect towards a media member."

Although it is rare for NASCAR to fine a competitor for a confrontation with news media representatives, the NASCAR release announcing the fine included the fact that Busch's encounter with Punch "followed similar inappropriate media confrontations earlier in the season."

Those included actions at the second Richmond race, where Busch had to be restrained from going after a NASCAR.com reporter and later took an interview transcript from another reporter and tore it in half.

After the incident with Punch, which was videotaped and seen by thousands on the internet, Busch and his Penske Racing team issued apologies.

There was no immediate response Friday from Busch or the team.