So I had this whole column written on Friday night after the Nationwide race at Darlington.

It was all about Kyle Busch and just how good he was behind the wheel of a racecar after he won his 95th NASCAR National Touring Series race. I still had the column in the can Saturday night as he led in the early running of the Southern 500.

And the race was looking boring enough that I had ­nothing else to write about.

Then, bam, Kyle goes off and acts like, well, Kyle. As he is wont to do. And, so, I had to scrap the praising his talent column and go with the “that guy is a complete !@#!@$” ­column.

Before I get started, I am not completely absolving Kevin Harvick of any wrongdoing in the post-race fracas that erupted after Regan Smith won the Southern 500 in something of an upset. I’m just saying that if we are going on a preponderance of evidence here, I’m going to make Busch the most responsible party.

In case you missed it, Harvick bumped Kyle Busch at the end of the backstretch after the next-to-last restart. Harvick and teammate Clint Bowyer both found themselves inside of Busch coming out of turn four. The three cars made contact, sending Bowyer careening into the inside wall. As the two cars made their way down the front stretch, Busch hooked Harvick, sending him spinning into the outside wall. Mind you, at this point, the checkered flag had fallen.

Once the checkered flag fell, Harvick waited on Busch, stopping the No. 18 at the entrance of pit road. When Busch tried to maneuver around the No. 29, Harvick backed up and kept his car in front of Busch. Once the two cars finally got to pit road, Harvick got out of his car and threw a punch at a still-seated Busch, who then bumped the No. 29 sending it into the inside pit wall.

Upon entering the garage, Harvick made his way to the No. 18 hauler where a scuffle ensued with pushing, shoving and profanities bandied about.

Both drivers were summoned to the NASCAR hauler for a meeting with NASCAR President Mike Helton and Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton. Harvick came alone, while Busch arrived later flanked by an entourage of team and NASCAR folks.

Here is why I have a problem with Busch more so than Harvick.

One, I occasionally like a good post-race fight. As I said last week, I’m a bit of a redneck.

Two, Busch effectively ran from Harvick post race. If you are going to drive the way Busch does and essentially hook someone under caution, you have to be willing to come to blows over it. It looked somewhat lowbrow and wimpy for Busch to back up to avoid Harvick. When it’s time to play the feud, it’s time to play the feud. And as Harry Hogg said in Days of Thunder, “you done it deliberate.”

But my biggest problem is over the on pit-road bump of Harvick’s empty car on pit road where crew and media members were milling about. As NASCAR drivers, you sign up for the danger. As a member of pit crew you sign up for some degree of danger, but an unpiloted car coming at you because of someone’s immature behavior, is not part of the deal.

Busch claimed that reverse had gone out in his car so he had no choice to get around Harvick but to go forward. Now, I may be a bit naive, but I’m calling BS on that one.

I really do want to like Busch. He is one hell of a ­talent. But each time I am in awe with his talent, he does something that awes me with his stupidity.

Contact Andy Cagle at andycagle@earthlink.net.