BUSCH: Series leader Truex penalised.

NASCAR have announced that current Busch Series points leader and defending series champion Martin Truex Jr. has been penalised, fined and placed on probation following his one-fingered outburst at Mike Wallace last Saturday night in Richmond.

The driver of the championship leading #8 DEI Chevrolet was penalised 25 points and fined $10,000 with his team also picking up a 25 point penalty following the incident, which occurred after Wallace tipped Truex Jr into the outside wall on the back-stretch of the three-quarter-mile oval. After riding the outside wall, Truex Jr managed to avoid a Carl Long style series of flips, but did chose to give Wallace one of his own for good measure, which NASCAR deemed an 'inappropriate gesture.'

Truex Jr, who will graduate to the Nextel Cup Series full-time in 2006, has also been placed on probation until December 31st 2005. The deductions reduce both Truex's driver point total and Earnhardt's owner point total from 3,956 to 3,931 and brings second place driver Clint Bowyer and his #2 Richard Childress Racing team to within 69 points with seven races remaining.