RELATED: Complete results from Fontana | On-track incident rules 
 
 NASCAR officials fined Danica Patrick $20,000 on Thursday for her actions after a crash during last Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway. 
 
 Competition officials ruled that Patrick violated safety rules when she walked toward the racing surface to gesture at Kasey Kahne's passing car. The guidelines are detailed in the on-track incident procedure section (10.4.2.1) of the 2016 NASCAR Rule Book. Patrick has also been placed on probation for the next four events. 
 
 
 
 WATCH: Patrick wrecks, gestures at Kahne 
 
 Additionally, Kyle Busch was fined $10,000 for failure to fulfill his post-race media obligations following the NASCAR XFINITY Series race at Auto Club. Busch is also on probation for the next four events. 
 
 
 
 Kahne's Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet made contact with Patrick's Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Chevrolet in the 120th lap of Sunday's Auto Club 400, turning Patrick's car sharply into the outside retaining wall on the frontstretch. 
 
 Patrick emerged from the car and walked toward the waiting ambulance for the mandatory ride to the infield care center, but -- though she stayed below the uppermost white stripe delineating the racing surface from the track apron -- her path deviated and included an agitated gesture in Kahne's direction. 
 
 The fine is the same amount issued to Trevor Bayne last June for his actions at Dover International Speedway. After his involvement in a crash at the Monster Mile, Bayne did not wait for safety officials to tend to him, and there were no extenuating circumstances (such as fire) that prompted a more hasty exit. 
 
 Guidelines for properly exiting a race car have been stated in the drivers' and crew chiefs' meeting before every NASCAR race. The rules were formalized in August 2014 after a sprint-car accident at a New York dirt track involving Tony Stewart that fatally injured young racer Kevin Ward Jr., who approached Stewart's passing car on foot. 
 
 During the yellow flag for the Kahne-Patrick incident, NASCAR race control ordered Kahne and his crew chief, Keith Rodden, to the Sprint Cup Series hauler for a post-race consultation with officials. Kahne apologized both mid-race over his radio communications, post-race after leaving the NASCAR hauler and again post-race through his personal Twitter account. 
 
 Patrick finished 38th in the 39-car field Sunday. Kahne wound up 28th. 
 
 • In addition to the fines for Busch and Patrick, NASCAR also issued warnings to six Sprint Cup Series teams for inspection issues at Auto Club. 
 
 Warnings, with season totals in parenthesis, were given to the following teams for failing the Laser Inspection Station twice during pre-qualifying inspection: Richard Childress Racing No. 3 with driver Austin Dillon (1); Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 with driver Matt Kenseth (1); Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 with driver Ryan Blaney (1); and Richard Childress Racing No. 27 with driver Paul Menard (1). 
 
 The Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 with driver Carl Edwards (2) failed the LIS twice during pre-race inspection. 
 
 The No. 20 team also received a warning, its second, for failing template inspection twice during pre-qualifying. 
 
 The Circle Sport Leavine Family Racing No. 95 with driver Michael McDowell was given a warning for a truck trailing arm that did not meet specifications. The issue was discovered during initial inspection on Friday. 
 
 Vehicles failing either pre-qualifying or pre-race inspection twice receive a written warning. A third failure results in the loss of 15 minutes of practice as well. 
 
 Any team receiving four warnings forfeits its opportunity for pit stall selection, either at that event if pit selection hasn't taken place or at the next event if pit stall selection has been completed. 
 
 Once a team has forfeited its pit selection, its total is reset to zero. 
 
 ||||| Kevin Harvick (4) leads in front of Denny Hamlin (11) and Jimmie Johnson (48) in the final laps of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday, March, 19, 2016, in Fontana,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kevin Harvick (4) leads in front of Denny Hamlin (11) and Jimmie Johnson (48) in the final laps of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday, March, 19, 2016, in Fontana, Calif. (Jose Huerta/The Victor Valley Daily Press via AP) (Associated Press) 
 
 Kevin Harvick (4) leads in front of Denny Hamlin (11) and Jimmie Johnson (48) in the final laps of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday, March, 19, 2016, in Fontana, Calif. (Jose Huerta/The Victor Valley Daily Press via AP) (Associated Press) Kevin Harvick (4) leads in front of Denny Hamlin (11) and Jimmie Johnson (48) in the final laps of the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway Sunday, March, 19, 2016, in Fontana,... (Associated Press) 
 
 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — NASCAR heads into its first weekend off this season hoping fans are thrilled with the improved on-track product and exciting race finishes. 
 
 It's a fair ask: The racing over the first five events of the season has been better, and since Denny Hamlin's victory by mere inches in the Daytona 500, there have been some decent races to the checkered flag. 
 
 Alas, it doesn't translate into a buzz capable of carrying NASCAR into mainstream conversation every week. 
 
 What does? The drama. 
 
 But a new behavioral policy could curb much of the excitement that comes with controversy. 
 
 NASCAR's brass faced a handful of behavioral reviews following a three-week West Coast road trip that ended Sunday at California with some unhappy competitors. 
 
 Kyle Busch was annoyed with NASCAR for failing to call a caution when his tire failed on the last lap while leading the Xfinity Series race on Saturday. Austin Dillon passed Busch on the last corner to win, Busch finished second and sarcastically thanked NASCAR over his in-car radio for "fixing races." 
 
 Under a behavioral policy announced days before the season-opening Daytona 500, Busch could be subject to a fine between $10,000 and $50,000 for "disparaging the sport and/or NASCAR's leadership." 
 
 Busch could also be penalized for skipping his post-race media obligations as the second-place finisher. Strangely, though, Kevin Harvick was told by NASCAR he wasn't needed for a news conference after he finished second in the Sprint Cup race on Sunday, but isn't under any scrutiny. 
 
 NASCAR executive Steve O'Donnell told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio after California the series was "disappointed" by both Busch's comments and for failing to complete his media obligations. 
 
 Also under review this week, according to O'Donnell, is a tweet sent out by Martin Truex Jr.'s crew chief after Sunday's race. Cole Pearn was upset with contact between Truex and Joey Logano, and he posted a derogatory tweet toward Logano. 
 
 Pearn issued an apology through his race team several hours later, but is still under review by NASCAR. 
 
 "We certainly want to be liberal in terms of allowing drivers and competitors to express their opinions, but there's absolutely a line," O'Donnell said. "That's another one we'll have to take a look at." 
 
 Lastly, NASCAR is reviewing Danica Patrick walking toward the track to gesture at Kasey Kahne after Kahne caused her to crash. 
 
 If NASCAR does indeed punish anyone this week, it should be Patrick, who broke a clearly defined rule that has been in place since 2014. The rule was put into place after Tony Stewart's car struck and killed a sprint car driver who had exited his vehicle to confront the NASCAR driver on the track. 
 
 So Patrick actually did break a rule. The rest of it? Ehhh. 
 
 As the reigning Sprint Cup champion — and a driver who has made considerable gains in terms of maturity and personal growth — Busch should probably hold himself to a higher standard of professionalism. But Busch has never been one to bite his tongue, and his negative comments toward NASCAR over his team radio are not uncommon. 
 
 He indicated on Twitter he expects a fine, and said skipping all post-race interviews Saturday will likely get him "a discount" on the sanction. In other words, he said nothing rather than dig a deeper hole. 
 
 But if NASCAR excused Harvick from post-race obligations a day later, it's hard to justify Busch for failing to give any interviews. Drivers either have to speak to the media or they don't. There shouldn't be exceptions to who is and is not expected to meet media obligations. 
 
 And as for Pearn's tweet, well, that's the kind of stuff fans talk about. They won't spend the next week discussing the passes of drivers racing inside the top 10. But they will remember Pearn took a public shot at Logano, and that Busch is mad at NASCAR, and that Patrick is mad at Kahne. 
 
 Trying to stifle the personalities and raw emotion from competitors is going to hurt NASCAR in the long run. The sport is fortunate right now that its 2016 rules package has been embraced by drivers and indeed has made the racing more watchable. 
 
 But for 38 events over nearly 10 months, the racing alone is not going to carry the sport. NASCAR needs its personalities, its drama, its feuds, to build any sort of sustainable momentum. Without that drama, it's just cars going in circles.
– Danica Patrick's wallet is $20,000 lighter because she began walking toward another driver who caused her to crash. NASCAR imposed the fine Thursday after Sunday's crash, in which Kasey Kahne caused Patrick to spin into the wall at the AutoClub 400, reports ESPN. After exiting her car, Patrick approached the track and raised her arms in what NASCAR officially deems an "agitated" way toward Kahne. She never made it onto the actual track, but NASCAR rules forbid any driver from even approaching the apron after a crash—the result of this fatality a couple of years ago. Another big name, Kyle Busch, was fined $10,000 for a race at the same track on Saturday when he didn't show up for mandatory post-race interviews. Busch finished second, but he had been leading on the final lap when he blew a tire. While still in his car after the race, he criticized NASCAR over his radio for not throwing a caution flag, which might have allowed him to win. NASCAR has been cracking down on drivers' behavior of late with new rules, though Jenna Fryer of the AP wonders whether the shift will reduce some of the drama surrounding the races. (NASCAR's CEO is endorsing Donald Trump.)