Kyle Busch has been parked for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race and Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after intentionally crashing Ron Hornaday in Friday night's Camping World Truck Series race.

"[Busch being parked for Friday night's race is] done under section 9.12 of the rulebook, that gives NASCAR the authority to react during a race weekend. And following the event and after a good deal of conversation and discussion, NASCAR has decided to maintain that parked position on the driver of the 18 truck for the balance of the weekend," NASCAR president Mike Helton said Saturday morning.

"So basically what that means is that Kyle Busch will not be participating today or tomorrow in the NASCAR event here in Texas."

Joe Gibbs, Busch's team owner in the Cup and Nationwide Series, was at home in North Carolina and not at the track Friday night. He flew to Texas Saturday morning and met with NASCAR officials and Busch. Gibbs said he "trusts" NASCAR's decision. He

Kyle Busch was parked from Friday night's Winstar World Casino 350 Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway after intentionally crashing Ron Hornaday under caution.

Busch and Hornaday brought out the caution when they made contact while passing the lapped truck of Johnny Chapman, who was on the inside. Hornaday was in the middle and slid up and touched Busch and while the two drivers saved their trucks from spinning, they both brushed the wall.

[Related: Danica Patrick to run 10 Sprint Cup races in 2012]

Hornaday said that he didn't have anywhere to go and Busch knew that the lapped truck was there to their inside.

"This is just stupid. He knew what I was going for, he knew I was there. He had to lift too. If I'd have lifted, I'd probably gotten in the back of the slower car and would have caused a big wreck. He just drove me in the fence," Hornaday said on SPEED after he got out of the infield care center.

Busch had a slightly different view.

"If you consider Ron's in

After winning at Martinsville on Sunday, Tony Stewart served notice to Carl Edwards that he was ready to battle Edwards for the title.

On Friday, Edwards said that while Stewart may be his closest pursuer — eight points back — he also needed to worry about Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski.

"[Stewart and I] get along real well and, for me, this week I've thought a little bit about who my real competition is and, no offense to Tony or anything, but I think the guys that are behind him are truly the guys who have the biggest chance of doing well over the next three weeks," Edwards said.  "They've shown they can run up front in the points all year and although Tony could go on a roll, what I've been sticking to this week is that it would be foolish of me to just focus on him and not pay attention to these other guys who have been very, very fast."

While that may be true of Harvick, who trails Edwards by 21 points, Keselowski, who is 27 back, didn't catch fire until winning at Kansas in

Danica Patrick will make her Sprint Cup debut in the 2012 Daytona 500 and run a total of 10 races at the Cup level next season in preparation for a presumed full-time move to the Cup Series in 2013.

Patrick will drive the No. 10 car — her favorite number — for Stewart-Haas Racing at the following races in 2012: Daytona 500, Darlington, Bristol II, Atlanta, Chicago, Dover II, Texas II, Phoenix II and two TBD races.

"I've been describing it as the first day of the rest of my life," Patrick said of the move to NASCAR. "I'm all in here and these are my thoughts — this is my focus. And that's what I said to people when I left [IndyCar]. I'll be watching and I'm sure there will be moments when I'll think I wish I was out there because it looks fun. But that's pretty much going to be the extent of it for me is being a spectator."

Her next chapter comes after seven years in the IndyCar Series where Patrick won one race, in Japan in 2008. Next year, she will be fully committed to NASCAR,

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Austin Dillon will be bringing the No. 3 back to the Nationwide Series in 2012 with sponsorship from AdvoCare.

Dillon and his grandfather Richard Childress announced Friday at Texas that AdvoCare would sponsor Dillon's No. 3 car in 20 Nationwide Series races next season for Richard Childress Racing. AdvoCare is a two-race primary sponsor for Richard Petty Motorsports in the Cup Series and sponsored the Cup race at Atlanta.

However, Childress has no plans to bring the No. 3, made famous by Dale Earnhardt, to the Cup Series anytime soon.

"Right now we have no intentions of taking the stylized 3 to the Cup Series," Childress said.

The No. 3 hasn't been used in Cup competition since Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Dillon is currently the points leader in the Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 3 truck for Childress. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won two Nationwide Series championships driving the No. 3 for Childress in 1998 and 1999, and has driven the No. 8 and 88 cars in his

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Mark Martin will drive 25 races for Michael Waltrip Racing with sponsorship from Aaron's in each of the next two Sprint Cup Series seasons.

The team announced Friday at Texas Motor Speedway that it would have sponsorship from Aaron's for 30 races over each of the next two seasons with Waltrip driving in the other five. Aaron's also holds an option for 2014.

Martin had been mentioned as a candidate for partial schedules at other teams, including Stewart-Haas Racing with Danica Patrick, but the deal with Waltrip came about three weeks ago.

Martin's No. 5 at Hendrick Motorsports will be driven by Kasey Kahne next year.

"I did have some other options," Martin said. "Most of the options were 'wait and see if it materializes.'

"When we talked at Talladega, there was no clear path but I was starting to see more traction on the Cup side than I had seen in Nationwide or Trucks."

Martin and Waltrip will be replacing David Reutimann, who has driven for Michael Waltrip Racing since the team

Michael Waltrip Racing has officially confirmed that David Reutimann's time with the team is done as of the end of the 2011 season.

"David has been a significant part of Michael Waltrip Racing since the very beginning and will forever be a part of our heritage," Michael Waltrip said in a statement.  "We want to thank David for his contribution to our growth and success over the past five years and wish him well in the future."

This gives fuel to the reports earlier in the week that Mark Martin would be coming on board MWR as a part-time driver, with much of Reutimann's sponsorship money potentially going to Clint Bowyer.

Shortly after the news broke, Waltrip took to Twitter and issued the following tweet:

b1103waltripEither Waltrip is lying through his teeth, or this is a straight business move, which seems far more likely. Reutimann is 41 and has a career record of two wins, 12 top 5s and 25 top 10s in 168 career starts, all for MWR. He's almost certainly reached his ceiling as a driver, but will

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Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin watch as Joey Logano turns laps at Martinsville. Surely you can make with the funny right here, can't you?

After the jump, there's smoke in the air at Talladega.

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Yellowhammer:
Jeremy Mayfield's cleverly hidden meth lab suffers a small setback. [Satire! Not to be taken seriously!]

Rick C:
Kevin Harvick fuming about the race.

Andy:
Regan Smith's joke about voting for Obama was not well received by the NASCAR crowd.