Why did Kyle Busch lose his driver's license in 2011? Explained

About 14 years ago, Kyle Busch had his driving privileges revoked for 45 days following a high-speed driving incident several months earlier. Busch also faced fines, probation and community service but avoided long‑term license suspension by entering a plea deal.

On May 24,  2011, Busch was test‑driving a bright yellow 2012 Lexus LFA and while driving on a narrow, two‑lane rural road near Mooresville, he was recorded traveling at 128 mph in a 45 mph speed zone.

The 40-year-old appeared before the Iredell County District Court in Statesville, North Carolina, to face speeding and additional careless and reckless driving charges. He pleaded guilty to the speeding violation but entered a no-contest plea for reckless driving later that year. This meant that Busch avoided the automatic license suspension for a year associated with reckless driving in North Carolina through a Prayer for Judgment Continued (PJC). It also meant that the charge would not appear as a conviction on his record.

However, the sentence included a $1,000 fine and 45-day suspension of his North Carolina driver’s license. Busch also has had driving troubles before. In 2006, the then Hendrick Motorsports driver was ticketed for reckless driving after spinning his tires while leaving a gas station in Richmond, Virginia.

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Did Kyle Busch compete in NASCAR after the 2011 incident?

Kyle Busch, who was in his fourth full-time season with Joe Gibbs Racing, was allowed to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series.

NASCAR races don’t require a regular driver’s license to compete. The two-time Cup champion continued his racing career and raced in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series in 2011 to collect four, eight and six wins in each of them, respectively.

"I'm certainly sorry that it happened. It wasn't a toy, it's a high-performance vehicle. It should be driven with caution. Obviously, I didn't have caution and I had a lack of judgment. There's probably reason why on the TV commercials that they always show at the bottom, `Professional driver, closed course.' Mine was not that. Again, I apologize sincerely. All I can do is make sure it doesn't happen again," Kyle Busch said to the media in 2011 (via CBS News).

Part of Busch's sentence was 30 hours of community service with one year of unsupervised probation. He agreed to attend sessions of a safe-driving program B.R.A.K.E.S (Be Responsible And Keep Everyone Safe) for teenagers and sponsor 300 students for the same.

The driving safety program was started by NHRA Top Fuel Dragster racer Doug Herbert after he lost his sons in a 2008 speeding accident.