NASCAR owner Richard Childress says fans tried to pay his fine from reported fight with Kyle Busch

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NASCAR team owner Richard Childress said Friday that fans sent in donations to help cover his $150,000 fine for his reported fight with driver Kyle Busch, but that he would be paying the fine himself.

‘We had a lot of fans ... send in donations last week toward our fine,’ Childress told reporters at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., site of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

‘I am going to pay it personally,’ Childress said in a transcript released by Team Chevy Racing. ‘All that money that has been sent in, that is still coming in, we’re going to take and donate [it] to the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma in Winston-Salem, N.C.

‘At least in a bad situation, something good will come out of it,’ he said.

NASCAR levied the fine on Childress after the 65-year-old grandfather reportedly grabbed Busch, 26, in a headlock and punched him in the garage at Kansas Speedway after a NASCAR truck race last Saturday.

Childress reportedly was angry at how the always aggressive Busch had treated some of Childress’ drivers on the track in recent weeks, including his driver in the truck race, Joey Coulter. Before that, Childress driver Kevin Harvick and Busch tangled on pit road immediately after a Cup race in Darlington, S.C.

‘I am passionate about my race teams, our fans, and I let my emotions get ... come in front of my passion,’ Childress said. ‘Hopefully Kyle and myself will both end up learning something from this.’

Separately, Busch -- who was not penalized for any actions at Kansas -- told reporters at Pocono that his contact with Coulter’s truck during that race’s cool-down lap was ‘a congratulatory bump’ but that it still ‘tipped him [Childress] over the edge.’

‘There was no malicious intent to be involved in hurting or damaging an RCR [Richard Childress Racing] vehicle,’ Busch said in a transcript released by Toyota Motorsports. ‘I feel like I’ve acted in the utmost respect to every case that’s come up my way and has been thrown in front of me.’

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NASCAR owner Richard Childress reportedly fights Kyle Busch

-- Jim Peltz