NASCAR finally did it.
After nearly two years since NASCAR delivered the “Boys, have at it” edict, one of the boys has pushed the envelope too far.
Kyle Busch and Ron Hornaday got into a dust-up early in the truck race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Hornaday got loose and squeezed Busch into the outside wall, but then Busch came back during the caution period and intentionally wrecked Hornaday and ending the night of both cars just 14 laps into the race.
NASCAR went ahead and told Busch he couldn’t go back out on the track for the remainder of the race, but it didn’t matter. The #18 truck was destroyed.
However, NASCAR came back Saturday morning and took a much more drastic step in the situation. They told Busch he could not race in either the Nationwide race on Saturday or the Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday.
Let’s try and sort out some of the issues involved in this situation, because there are plenty.
First, Busch intentionally wrecked a fellow driver. OK, that has happened before, and it has even happened under caution. Remember last year’s Chase race at Texas? Jeff Burton dumped Jeff Gordon under the yellow and the two drivers literally fought about it on the backstretch.
Another recent incident many people look back to for perspective on this situation is when Carl Edwards intentionally wrecked Brad Keselowski in the 2010 spring race at Atlanta.
Yet another factor that could be weighed into this decision is that Hornaday was in the thick of the truck series championship battle with just one race remaining after Texas. However, drivers in a championship battle have been wrecked before, even intentionally. Shoot, Brian Vickers took out Matt Kenseth on purpose just last week at Martinsville.
What’s the difference? The driver’s history.
Kyle Busch is the bad boy of NASCAR and has been since he joined the sport in 2004. Every year Busch either says something or does something that stirs everybody up and we have debates like the one this weekend.
So, was NASCAR right to park Busch for the rest of the weekend? That answer will be debated long after Sunday’s race and maybe even long after the season comes to a close.
Many people will say Edwards deserved a suspension after not only wrecking Keselowski at Atlanta, but then wrecking him coming to the white flag later in the year during a Nationwide race at Gateway.
After all of that, NASCAR still had to penalize Busch this weekend. Unfortunately life isn't fair, pal.
Contrary to public opinion, the sanctioning body has probably been a little soft in its punishments throughout the years. This was only the third time a driver has been parked during a weekend since 2002.
But, before we give NASCAR a hard time, and plenty of people still will regardless of its decision, the great part about this sport is how the competitors are able to police the sport among themselves.
The most telling sign that NASCAR made the right decision is the drivers and former drivers’ comments that Busch certainly deserved this penalty. Some, including Kyle Petty and Dale Jarrett, think he might deserve a harsher penalty that spills into the coming weeks.
Should other drivers have received similar penalties in the past? Maybe, but past possible errors shouldn’t change what the correct answer is in this particular instance.
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Oh well life goes on. Maybe Kyle will realize it's not always all about him..lord knows all of us are guilty of the "me me me" syndrome at times..we just aren't in a 3500 pound 140mph race car at the time. If he continues his tantrums..well I know there are a wad of drivers out of rides at the end 2011 who would be more then happy to toe the line in order to get a ride in the 18 car. No matter what your job is and how GOOD you are..you can ALWAYS be replaced. I truly would hate to see that happen to Kyle.
ReplyDeleteGibbs should release him. Look, if you were a coach of a team, your star QB gets arrested the night before the super bowl. Do you play him or sit him ? Most people would say, play him in the game, then do something. That's whats wrong with sports today. Forget the fines, just bench his ass or in this case fire him. Let him go start his own team in cup.
ReplyDeleteFor the sake of the sponsers, he should be banned from the track for the rest of the season. The cat in the hat did it to his brother. It could give him a little time to think about growing up, as well as attending a few sessions of anger management.
ReplyDeleteI have heard the cry for Gibbs to fire Bush for his actions. Folks this is not going to happen. If they did not fire Tony Stewart for all the crap he pulled while at Gibbs, they certainly are not going to fire Bush for this incident.
ReplyDeleteI hope there are no more Busch brothers at home that want to drive in NA$CAR, the ones we have now are spoiled, self centered pricks. What was Mom and Dad Busch doing when they were supposed to be teaching their sons' to have manners ? Whatever they were up to they made two very good drivers but at the same time they made two very bad/defective people. And what is up with Joe Gibbs ? does he get a free pass ? just take a look at the people he has hired in the past, football as well as NA$CAR, he has a history of letting his players/drivers run wild, be low down and just flat out cheat ( I remember the magnets as well as a few other boo boos) and then babble about being sorry and how religious he supposedly is and how the player/driver is also soooo very sorry. Same bulls**t different day nothing will change other than maybe Logano starts to wreck other drivers so he can also be a "winning" JGR driver.
ReplyDeleteThe talk of Busch losing his ride one way or another won't go away. If nothing else, this has to be the wake-up moment for Kyle Busch in his career.
ReplyDeleteThanks!