Reigning NASCAR Champ Kurt Busch Suspended

This is a bit of a shocker. Reigning NASCAR Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch was suspended this morning for the balance of the season following a Friday night altercation with a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy. Although the incident occurred on Friday night, the decision to suspend Busch was not made until about 8:45 am this morning. Kenny Wallace was pulled off the set of his NASCAR morning show and will drive the 97 car today.

The news is still a little sketchy, but here's what Jayski is reporting:

Defending NASCAR Nextel Cup champ Kurt Busch was issued a criminal traffic citation for reckless driving Friday night by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputy. The stop occurred at 8:20 p.m. near El Mirage and Broadway roads, about three miles from Phoenix International Raceway. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said a motorcycle deputy saw Busch nearly rear-end another vehicle, speed around it to avoid a crash and blast through a stop sign. He was clocked at 60 mph in a 45 zone. The deputy said he tried to stop him, but Busch kept driving. The deputy called for backup and another deputy helped pull Busch over. Arpaio said Busch insulted the deputy by asking what law enforcement agency he was from and saying, "you ought to be directing traffic." Busch reportedly pulled out his driver's license and NASCAR identification and said, "Don't you know who I am?" (never a good question to ask a law enforcement officer -HC)

"He can speed on the racetrack but he's not going to speed on the streets of Maricopa County," Arpaio said. MCSO spokesman Lt. Paul Chagolla said the deputy "smelled alcohol" and tried to administer a standard field sobriety test. Busch started the tests but stopped before completing each one. He was then taken into custody under suspicion of driving under the influence and transported to a mobile command post at PIR for a breath-alcohol test, but the machine malfunctioned. Busch, who will drive in the Checker Auto Parts 500, was issued a criminal citation for reckless driving and ordered to appear in Tolleson Justice Court on Dec. 22. "I don't plan to take any action myself," said Jack Roush, Busch's team owner. "I'm not looking down the road with Kurt, based on the fact that he has his release and he will be doing something else. He'll be under new management, and new oversight next year, and I'll just stand aside and watch and see how that works out for him." Busch will drive for Penske Racing South next season (maybe yes, maybe no - HC) .(Arizona Republic)(11-12-2005)

One of the things that separates NASCAR from many other sports is the fact that the drivers and teams are sponsored by major corporations, and therefore the actions of the teams directly affect the public relations of the companies. You embarrass the sponsors and you risk losing your ride.

Baseball, basketball, hockey and football teams represent cities, but when Terrell Owens embarrassed his teammates and the citizens of Philadelphia, the city of Philadelphia couldn't suspend Owens or throw him off the team. In NASCAR sponsors often have the ability to do just that.

Busch's situation is even a little trickier. For one thing he's had run-ins with NASCAR officials before, so he didn't need to do anything else to aggravate them. On the sponsor side, his 97 ride is partially sponsored by Crown Royal, a hard liquor distiller, and his ride for next year will be the Miller Brewing #2 car currently driven by Rusty Wallace. The last thing an alcoholic beverage manufacturer needs is for the driver of their sponsored car to get arrested for driving under the influence (though Kurt was not charged with an alcohol-related offense, it's pretty clear from the reports that alcohol was involved). Not good p.r.

Busch was already on his owner's bad side since he announced earlier this year he'd be leaving the Rousch organization and would be heading to Penske in 2007. That basically made his 2006 season a lame-duck year, and rather than having him go through the motions for 34 races, Rousch recently agreed to let him out of his contract for 2006. The last two races of the 2005 season were to be his last with Rousch anyway. That probably made the team decision to suspend him for the remainder of the season a little easier.

Busch was in the Chase for the Nextel Cup and was currently in 8th position. Missing the remaining two races will probably drop him to 10th and will cost him a great deal of money, not to mention prestige. Since each of the top ten drivers get to speak at the awards banquet in December, his speech should be interesting (assuming he decides to appear). As reigning champ he would be expected to be part of the presentation to the new champ. This won't be pretty.

Now the real question is what Penske and the Miller Beer sponsors will do about next year? Do they want this guy driving one of the high profile beer wagons and appearing in their ads? Stay tuned.

Oh and another thing - don't get on Sheriff Joe Arpaio's bad side unless you want to spend some quality time wearing pink underwear, eating green bologna, and sitting in a tent in the hot Arizona sun. He takes his law enforcement seriously down there.

UPDATE: Kurt's little brother Kyle wins the Phoenix race.