CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Sam Bass figures the Gibson Les Paul custom guitar awarded to the winner of the Nationwide Series race in Nashville, Tenn., is worth about $25,000, considering the initial cost of the instrument and the 140 hours of work he spent turning it into a piece of art.

Kyle Busch smashed one.

He ordered two more.

Total estimated value: $75,000.

Total for winning the race: $52,220.

OK, so Busch didn't have to pay for the first one. The track did. And Bass won't charge $25,000 each for replicas of the trophy that was named one of the best in all of sports by Sports Illustrated.

But it still was a pretty costly smash.

A pretty cool one, too.

It may be unpopular to say Busch's celebration was cool. Bass thought it was anything but, saying he felt "shock, hurt, disappointment and surprise" to see his artwork destroyed in 30 seconds after he spent six to eight weeks creating it.

"Contrary to reports that were floated out there, I had no advance knowledge that was going to happen," Bass said. "So while I am watching it happen, I'm stunned and amazed just like anybody else was in Victory Lane. They couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"I don't care who you are -- that's got to hurt a little bit because you have something invested in it."

Bass' feelings are understandable. Nobody wants to see something he created destroyed.

He had a right to be angry, just as Busch had a right to be angry after seeing a few of his artful performances this season turn into disappointing losses because of a bad pit stop or a flat tire.

Bass' feelings aside, the celebration still was cool. Busch showed pure emotion and fulfilled a promise he made to his team a year ago that if he ever won at Nashville -- a track that until Saturday had denied him victory -- he would break the guitar and give each a piece of it.

In an era when drivers are so vanilla, that was refreshing.

Some say it was disrespectful to Bass and all he invested in the piece. Busch told Bass that wasn't the case when the two posed for a Victory Lane picture with the guitar. Bass took him at his word for it and agreed to make two more guitars.

Case closed.

Yet some want to vilify Busch for his act. They say it's another sign of his immaturity. Fellow Sprint Cup driver Carl Edwards said he wouldn't do that, that he has too much respect to do so.

That is his choice.

But you can't tell drivers to show their personality, as fans seem to want, then tell them they showed it in the wrong way. Next thing you know, NASCAR will be making rules against celebrating in Victory Lane the way college football has outlawed celebrating in the end zone.

Let 'em have fun. Let 'em show emotion.

It's good for the sport. Had Busch not smashed the guitar, nobody would be talking about the race.

And remember, there was a time when drivers occasionally sold their trophies for money to race the next weekend or simply to put food on the table. Was that disrespectful?

"I understand why he did what he did after promising to his crew how he would go about doing it," Bass said. "But it was hard to watch, for sure. It's a piece of artwork. That is not a cheap guitar by any sense of the imagination. That guitar is worthy of any of the greatest guitar players ever."

The replicas he'll make for Busch will be just as good.

"I'm not going to turn in anything that is not my best work," Bass said. "At least I know now he appreciates how much time and energy goes into it. Forty-two other drivers in that field might have handled things differently, but what's done is done.

"We'll go on and make the best of it. I'm always going to take the high road. Kyle says no disrespect to me. I'm going to take him at his word."

He'll also take his money.