As The Engine Revs: Busch, Stewart Receive 6-Race Probation
"He hit me!"
"He hit me first!"
"Nuh uh!!! He
started it!!"
No, that isn't a transcript of my boys and their latest
brush up. Well, it is, but put that
aside for now because this time the parties involved are Kurt Busch and Tony
Stewart.
After all was said and done, NASCAR has now handed out
what it deems to be the appropriate penalty.
One that lets everyone know that these guys went too far - but just a little. On Tuesday it was announced that they will
each be put on probation for six races.
No, not secret double probation, just the "you guys had better watch it"
kind.
According to NASCAR spokesman
Ramsey Poston if they had done their bumping and shoving on pit road where crew
members were working, instead of out on the track, the measures would have been
more severe.
"We took a lot into
consideration," Poston said. "The drivers do have greater latitude,
pit road was closed, there was no personnel on the track. It's an emotional
sport, there's emotion on the track. They should not have been banging each
other after the accident. But they were not banging each other on a 'hot' pit road.
That is very different and would have been dealt with much more severely."
"In the past we've used
'probation for the rest of the year,' but it's never been something that's been
exercised. It never seemed to really mean anything," Poston said.
"Now we are going to take action. If you are on probation for an
altercation with another driver, and you have a second incident during that
probation period, we are going to take action."
Now, if you watched the video
or read the accounts on what happened, you might be wondering why Stewart was
being punished equally to Busch, since it appeared that Kurt just might have
overreacted to the bumping incident - even if he did end up wrecking into the
wall. That part wasn't involved in the punishment. No, Kurt's comes from him deliberately
driving into Tony not once, but twice on the track and then blocking him from
heading to the garage. Tony's - well,
his comes from the next part.
Apparently, when they got back to the garage, Tony blocked Kurt from
getting in. He then tried to get out of
the car and go after him physically.
Now, if you've seen Tony Stewart this year, you may have noticed that he
added a few extra pounds in the off season, maybe a few more than usual. (Hey, maybe we can get him to join Fit
Club!!) I guess Kurt commented on
that. Which is why, when they got into
the official's trailer, Tony took a swing at Kurt.
"He hit me!"
"Yeah, but he called me
names!"
Maybe next time they should
just send them to their room and tell them if they can't play nice...
Fans watch the ramming incident
Kurt Busch talks to reporters
Tony Stewart
All images courtesy of AP