Wait a Minute: Why wasn’t Kurt Busch parked?

Racing commentary by Dave Grayson

Several days have now gone by since the rain in Dover-Delaware moved the NASCAR Nextel Cup race from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning and my neck is still sore from shaking my head. That razor sharp twinge of pain was, once again, due to my often complete lack of understanding over how NASCAR dispenses its brand of justice towards their minions who dare to engorge their wrath by openly defying the writings of their official book of wisdom.

The circumstances that led to NASCAR’s wrath was simple enough. During the Dover race drivers Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart got into each other and damaged their cars. It was one of those on track incidents that happens too often during a Nextel Cup race. It certainly wasn’t the first time these two NASCAR superstars have traded paint during a race. It wasn’t even the first time this year in a season that isn’t even half over yet.

Wait a minute: this racing deal soon turned very bizarre.

Stewart brought his car to pit road in order for his Joe Gibbs Racing team to access the damage. Jason Lee came over the pit wall towards the right side of the car with the intent of jacking the car up. All of a sudden he saw Kurt Busch’s car coming right at him. A very angry Busch pulled up alongside Stewart’s car and hit his driver’s door. Jackman Jason Lee, clearly in harms way, jumped up on top of his team’s car to avoid being hit by Busch. Pit road onlookers were stunned. Even the television broadcast team didn’t know what to say at first.

Wait a minute: NASCAR had plenty to say.

First off they informed Busch to park his Miller Lite Dodge for the remainder of the race. In the days that followed Busch’s latest emotional outburst NASCAR announced that they were fining him $100,000 and docking him 100 championship points. They also docked team owner Roger Penske 100 owner’s points.

Wait a minute: why wasn’t Busch suspended?

There’s certainly historical precedence for a suspension. In the spring of 2002 Kevin Harvick, while participating in a Craftsman Truck Series race at the Martinsville Speedway, was nailed by NASCAR officials for extremely aggressive driving. In the aftermath Harvick was very surprised to learn that he had been suspended from participating in the Nextel Cup race the following day. Still another case of precedence developed in 2003 when Busch and Jimmy Spencer had an on track altercation. Busch parked in front of Spencer’s car hauler with the intent of speaking to him about the incident and was greeted with a punch in the nose from the driver known as “Mr Excitement.” Spencer spent the following Sunday watching the Nextel Cup race from the comfort of his living room.

In more modern times NASCAR has not hesitated a moment to suspend crew chiefs for pre or post race technical violations. That trend began this past February at the Daytona 500 when two crew chiefs were suspended for six races and two members of Michael Waltrip Racing were suspended indefinitely. The most recent suspension came after the Darlington race when Tony Eury Jr, crew chief for the Budweiser Chevrolet driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr, was sent home for six races after NASCAR inspections discovered a mounting bracket on the rear spoiler that they deemed to be an unapproved part. This suspension was on top of a $100,000 fine as well as the loss of 100 driver and owner points.

Because of these recent suspensions everyone expected NASCAR to send Busch home for a few races. To everyone’s amazement it didn’t happen. Even Busch was surprised and said he expected some time off. In a prepared statement he said “I did think I was probably going to get parked but it’s a blessing that NASCAR realized nothing too serious did happen so we can move forward with this and get back to the normal roots of racing for us which is to go and gain some points on Sunday.” When pressed for a comment Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition, said “the penalty was substantial.”

Wait a minute: “nothing serious happened?” “The penalty was substantial?

Tell it to all those crew chiefs who received suspensions over the past four months. More importantly tell it to Jason Lee who suddenly found himself in a very dangerous pit road situation because Kurt Busch got angry and stupid at the same time. You just can’t help but wonder what kind of message is being sent here to the Nextel Cup teams. If a crew chief was suspended for six races over a mounting bracket then one would have thought that Kurt Busch would have been parked for at least 12 races if not the remainder of the season. As far as his substantial punishment goes let’s be realistic here: Busch still has plenty of time to make up the 100 drivers points and put himself in a position to make the Chase For The Championship. In regards to the monetary fine again let’s be realistic: with the salaries Nextel Cup drivers are being paid these days $100,000 is practically chump change. It also has been reported  in the past that some of these fines have actually been paid by the team owners.

NASCAR keeps telling us that safety is their number one priority. In all fairness they proved that point with the recent introduction of the Car Of Tomorrow which is loaded with innovative features to enhance driver safety. So why did they drop the ball when a dangerous situation presented itself during the race at Dover? It’s just another one of those moments when NASCAR’s sense of justice puzzles me.

Wait a minute: that razor sharp twinge of pain has returned to my neck. I need to stop shaking my head over things like