Kurt Busch penalized, not suspended
NASCAR announced today that Kurt Busch, driver of the #2 Miller Lite Dodge in the Nextel Cup Series, has been penalized 100 championship driver points, fined $100,000 and placed on NASCAR probation until Dec. 31, 2007 for violating Section 12-4-A (actions detrimental to stock car racing – reckless driving; endangering a crew member on pit road) of the 2007 NASCAR rule book. Car owner Roger Penske has also been penalized with the loss of 100 championship owner points due to his driver’s infraction. The violation occurred on pit road during the race at Dover International Speedway on June 4.
Okay... MY Kurt Busch
I love this sport, but abhor the reckless nature in which NASCAR tows the line between big owners, big sponsors and the publicity that all this garners. Just what exactly is it?
I cite just a few possibilities:
5) Roger Penske. Is he so big, admired and needed in the racing field that his team is 'above the law'? C'mon Roger... take a stand. Penalize your driver. Show a backbone. Show some common sense and decency. Take your boy out of the car to actually illicit the thought that you care about the future of Penske Racing and the choices you made in selecting your drivers and how they represent your team.
4) Miller Brewing Co. Is this the representation you folks are looking for? Will this increase brand loyalty for you? I likened Mr. Busch's actions at Dover to someone who was seriously DUI. Mothers Against Drunk Drivers should use his pit road video clip in their next ad campaign. Yeah... there's some great publicity for you.
3) NASCAR. What exactly is this? A publicity stunt? Oh, I get it... put both Busch and Stewart back on the track at Pocono and see what kind of ratings you get. Since we're leaving FOX Sports and moving to TNT, we need a good lead story to 'up' the ratings. "The Bad Boys of NASCAR". Okay... I get it now. All the casual racing fans will surely search the dial in search of this elusive cable network. "AFR" I call it... Anything For Ratings.
2) The Fans. Any of you who encourage this, accept this, enjoy this and encourage these actions as "just racing" are not true fans of the sport. We can belly-ache all we want about the antics and in's and out's of the sport ON the track. THIS incident was occurred on Pit Road. While pit crews can, indeed, make or break a driver's chances of winning, taking one's pit crew member out, accidentally or otherwise, is an abomination of immense proportions.
1) Kurt Busch. You lost it, man. You may have had control of that car, but your control steered that vehicle directly into a competitor's car, and worse... directly towards a member of the human race. Apologize all you want. You should be ashamed.
Still love the sport... just getting more and more disillusioned.
www.sportingnews.com
BILL WHITEHEAD: NASCAR needs to park Kurt Busch
Scripps Howard News Service
Less than 300 times around Dover Speedway on Monday proved what we have come to know all along: Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart -- the square peg and round hole of Nextel Cup racing -- can't race together, at least not this season and regardless of what they have said about each other as recently as four months ago.
After wrecking together in the Daytona 500, the pair tried to make amends when Busch appeared two days later on Stewart's Sirius Satellite Radio talk show sounding like a long-lost friend phoning in. The former champions were fine with the incident, with Stewart deeming it a "racing deal" and Busch taking most of the blame.
Many expected Busch to receive a one-race suspension for stupidly racing up to Stewart on pit road, making contact with the No. 20 car and nearly hitting jackman Jason Lee in the process. That's unacceptable considering the effort to increase pit road safety.
But NASCAR did not suspend Busch Friday, instead docking him 100 driver points, fining him $100,000 and placing him on probation until the end of the year.
The talent is undoubtedly there for Busch -- his 2004 Nextel Cup title is clear proof -- but his brain shuts off sometimes when his emotions get the best of him. In the past, that mental shutdown resulted in a punch in the nose courtesy of Jimmy Spencer or a pulled annual NASCAR credential at Martinsville.
Parking Kurt Busch for at least Sunday's race at Pocono would have been the start of a fitting penalty, and an online poll at NASCAR.com had 85 percent of voters -- well over 150,000 of them -- in agreement. For safety's sake, Busch is a deserving choice for NASCAR's version of a timeout.
And there is precedent. Kurt was also the last Cup driver to be suspended when he was permanently benched in 2005 following his run-in with the law at Phoenix, but it was his own team sending him home and washing its collective hands of him, not NASCAR's doing. That seemed to be his low point -- until now.
The word from the people I speak with is that the elder Busch brother can be very personable, cordially spending time with fans. That's part of his PR makeover after a terrible ending with his former employer, who terminated their time with him by claiming they were out of the business of defending Kurt Busch.
But, as in the past, his immature behavior -- particular the stupid stunts on pit road -- stinks worse than burnt rubber or rain on race day. He made many boneheaded moves -- his teammate Kevin Harvick, himself once suspended, would call them rubberheaded moves -- at Roush Racing and now that same embarrassing penchant is continuing at Penske.
Kurt's jerky act is a familiar one, but it's a tired, old repeat from 2005. However, that's just Kurt being Kurt -- regardless of what driver's suit he's wearing.
Busch is quickly becoming the most hated man in Nasacr 😮