NASCAR Confiscates Kyle Busch's Rear End

Don't you just love it when a headline has a humorous double entendre? I do.

In all seriousness, however, Kyle Busch's No. 18 really did have its rear end housing (which helps to hold the transmission & other drive components in place) taken by NASCAR following Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, according to David Poole of The Charlotte Observer.

"We were out to lunch there a long ways and made the most of a solid run. Happy with that I guess - a top five," Busch said.

After the race, NASCAR confiscated the rear end housing from Busch's No. 18 Toyota with plans to double check measurements at the research and development center in Concord, N.C.

Busch, who won the season's first race at AMS to take the first of many Toyota victories in 2008, left the track with just his second Top-5 finish (he turned in a 5th-place run) in the 2008 edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup after coming in as the overriding favorite.

It should be interesting to see what NASCAR does about this situation, but I find it even more interesting how none of the NASCAR media with the exception of Poole is working an angle on this story.

Ultimately, its just reassurance for Busch that his flop in the Chase has been one of titanic proportions because you can be darn sure that had Jimmie Johnson's rear end or a part from Sunday's race winner Carl Edwards been confiscated by NASCAR, there'd be tons of hype.

It's funny what happens when you aren't a contender anymore, and that's exactly what Busch, and more widely, Joe Gibbs Racing has become in the season that looked so destined to yield great things for the Toyota operation.