Kurt Busch Suspended by Nascar for Run-In with Reporter, James Finch Looking for Replacement

Nascar has suspended driver Kurt Busch from Sprint Cup competition this weekend at Pocono Raceway. The sanctioning body's decision came after Busch got into an argument with Sporting News reporter Bob Pockrass after finishing fourth in Saturday's Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway. He had been on probation for doing a buurnout through Ryan Newman's pit stall at Darlington and then getting into an altercation with Newman's No. 39 crew after the event.

Busch got into a scuffle with Justin Allgaier at the start of the race and the two met on pit road for a discussion when the event ended.

An ESPN reporter later talked to the hot-headed Busch about the exchange. Busch said Allgaier "drove like a you-know-what all day. He tried to door us and tried to do stupid things out on the track. (But) I'm on probation, so I can't even pick my nose the right way."

"There are clowns that want to play and we'll play," said Busch. "I've got no problem with it. But then there's fans that will get on blog sites and Twitter tonight and just start a bunch of riff-raff. (All) it was, was the initial start of the race. Race your car kid, race your car. That's all there is to it."

 Speed camera's then caught Busch's response to Pockrass when the reporter asked him if his probation had restrained him from racing Allgaier harder than he normally would have. "It refrains me from not beating the s**t out of you right now because you ask me stupid questions," snapped Busch. "But since I'm on probation, I suppose that that's improper to say, as well."

"If you would talk about racing things, we could talk about racing things Bob," to which Pockrass responded, "It is racing."

Busch snapped back, "It is not racing. You're in this just to start stuff. That's all you're out here for."

Nascar took Busch aside Sunday morning after the drivers meeting and expressed their displeasure with his actions Saturday and they have taken the necessary steps for teaching him a lesson.

When this season started, Busch had said he was going to try and "put the fun back in racing."

He made a handshake agreement with James Finch at the start of the year to wheel the No. 51 car after a tumultuous 2011 season.

This was a year that saw Busch disrespect his then-owner, Roger Penske, over the radio, calling him "dude," on several occasions. He also had to be restrained on pit road during an altercation with Nascar.com writer Joe Menzer at Richmond, Later, in the Richmond media center, Busch tore up a transcript of an earlier interview offered by Associated Press reported Jenna Fryer. Most notably, he directed a profanity-laden tirade at ESPN pit reporter Jerry Punch following a transmission failure in the season finale at Homestead.

Finch has said he will meet with Busch in the coming days to discuss the status of their handshake deal. When asked about Busch by EPSN, he did not sound confident their deal would continue to work.

"If he's going to kill himself, I'm not going to be in the airplane with him," Finch said. "If that's what he's planning on doing, I am going to get out." The former driver-turned-owner told ESPN in December that if Busch had embarrassed him the way he did Penske last season, "he would have gotten his ass beat on pit road. He needs to simmer down a while." He mentioned drivers David Reutimann and Brian Vickers as possible replacements for Pocono and, possibly beyond. "There are a helluva lot of (drivers) out there."

This is the best thing for Kurt Busch. The media members he has verbally assaulted over the last two seasons are all well respected, veteran writers, not bloggers living in their mom's basement. And "respect" is the key word in all this. Busch wants respect from the fans, drivers and media around him, but he doesn't give that same respect back. He may be a talented driver, but this is not like football or baseball where talent is all that matters. An owner is also trying to sell him to a sponsor and a company is not going to pay a cash-strapped team like Finch's for Busch's attitude. He needs to learn, once and for all, you can't treat people like crap and expect them to like you.

Now that attitude has finally landed Busch on the couch for a week instead of in his usual seat behind the wheel. And by the sound of things, it may have also cost him another ride. And with his reputation, who knows if he'll get another chance to race again.

On Racing's Biggest Weekend, Take a Minute to Slow Down

This is the biggest weekend in motorsports. The Grand Prix of Monaco in the morning, the Indianapolis 500 in the afternoon and the Coca-Cola 600 at night will make up a day that race fans dream about all season long.

But as we embark on racing's longest day, it is also important to slow down and reflect for a moment and remember a few heroes.

This will be the first time in 66 years that the defending Indy 500 winner will not be in the field to go for a repeat. This year's defending champ is Dan Wheldon, whose life was tragically cut short due to a vicious crash in last year's season finale at Las Vegas. Wheldon, known simply as "Lionheart", won last year's centennial edition of the Indy 500 in spectacular fashion, passing the wreck car of leader J.R. Hildebrand in the final corner of the speedway. This was also the Englishman's second victory in the most storied race in motorsports.

A picture of Wheldon from last year's win will be on all of the tickets for this year's event. Wreath around his neck, milk in his hand and a bright smile on his face, just how race fans everywhere will remember "Lionheart."

The other reason to pause this race day is to remember the reason why we are racing at all.

Memorial Day weekend is not only a time to watch racing, barbecue and go to the beach. It is a time to remember all the brave men and women who have given their lives in service to our country. It may sound cliche, but freedom does not come free and without the sacrifices that our soldiers and their families make, we would not have the freedom and liberty we enjoy on a daily basis.

This weekend is all about spending time with family and enjoying some burgers, some hot dogs and some racing but let us not forget why we are able to do these things.

God bless Dan Wheldon, his wife Susie, and his sons Oliver and Sebastian. This weekend cannot be an easy one, seeing all the tributes and footage of Dan's Indy wins. May they finally have some sense of closure when this year's race is finished.

And God bless the servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the United States and all of their families. Without them, there would be no Indy 500, no Coke 600, and no family get-togethers.

"...that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that Government of the people, by the people and to the people shall not perish from the earth."

-Abraham Lincoln

Johnson Backs into All-Star Victory

The 2012 Sprint All-Star race started out with a bang. Drivers raced side-by-side throughout the field, feathers were ruffled and the recent changes Nascar made to the side skirts on the cars made the cars jumpy and hard to handle. The million dollar prize was anybody's to grab.

Then the final segment started.

The latest changes made to the race's format meant that the drivers who won the first four segments would line up 1-2-3-4 for the final pit stop. All they had to do was stop in their box, go and try to hold their spot. The crews didn't even need to service their cars.

But this new format came with an unforeseen issue. Once a driver won a segment, they would lag back the rest of the race to save their tires and equipment for the final 10-lap "shootout."

Jimmie Johnson won the first segment of the race and knew he would get that lead back when the No. 48 team came in for their final stop. Matt Kenseth won segment two and followed Johnson suite. Brad Keselowski was the third driver to win a segment and disappear to the rear of the pack. Sprint Showdown winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr won the fourth segment and looked like he would be the third driver to ever win the All-Star race after transferring in from the preliminary forty lap heat.

These four inherited the lead for the fifth and final segment. Despite challenges from Keselowski, Junior, and Marcos Ambrose, Johnson waved goodbye to the field and led the final ten laps and won his third All-Star win.

The race was not bad. Earnhardt, Jr and A.J. Allmendinger transferred in through the Showdown, started from the rear of the field and were contenders for the win the big money by the end of the race. Ambrose was also a strong contender throughout the race and it looked like the Aussie road racer-turned-stock car driver would finally shake the stereotype that he is only a road course ringer.

But in the end, the fans watching on television, and especially those who laid out their hard-earned money to see the race live, were sorely disappointed when a select few drivers decided not to give 100% Saturday night. Johnson, Kenseth and Keselowski didn't circumvent any rules. They merely took advantage of their situation. But that doesn't mean the fans have to like it. Johnson and his fans should be ashamed. Running half a lap down most all night, only to lead the final 10 laps and win the $1 million prize, is hardly an All-Star performance.

This race was almost perfect. If Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nascar would simply tweak the format and make it so all the drivers had to race all out for the entire event, like going back to eliminating drivers at the rear of the field at the ends of the segments, the race would be perfect. After what the No. 48 team pulled Saturday night, it's clear that something must be done before next year's race or the All-Star race will be at risk of becoming Nascar's equivalent of the NFL Pro Bowl.

2013 Chevy Stocker Will Be SS



First look: The 2013 Chevy SS

Just as predicted, General Motors announced Thursday that their Chevrolet brand will campaign a new model on the 2013 Sprint Cup Series tour. It will be based on the V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive Holden Commodore that is currently produced in Australia and be called the SS.

Chevy's move will hearken the return of a V-8 powered, rear-wheel-drive sedan that the automaker has not offered the American public in 17 years. It will be the derivative of the Holden Commodore, which we have already seen stateside as a Pontiac G8. The SS will be exported to the US as a 2014 model that will arrive in a showroom near you in late 2013.

After campaigning the Impala in Nascar full-time since 2008, bringing the SS to the United States might be just what the sport needs. Fans being able to purchase a production car with the same V-8 powerplant and rear-wheel-drive platform as Dale Earnhardt, Jr or Jeff Gordon may not only boost ticket sales, but sales for GM as well. The SS badge has always been reserved for Chevrolet's most storied models. Names like Chevelle, Camaro, Nova, Impala, Monte Carlo and El Camino have all been emblazoned with the infamous "Super Sport" emblem at one time and that fact will not be lost on longtime fans of Nascar racing.

"As a passionate race fan and performance enthusiast, I am thrilled that Chevrolet will deliver a true rear-wheel-drive Nascar racecar in the SS that is closely linked to the performance sedan that will be available for sale," said Mark Reuss, President of GM North America. "The Chevrolet SS is a great example of how GM is able to leverage it's global product portfolio to deliver a unique performance experience that extends beyond the track. I am personally looking forward to driving it."

Toyota will unveil their new body style in the next week or so, but there is no time table for when Chevrolet will unveil their new model. For now, all we have is a photo of a camouflaged version used in a test. But while the major details of the body styling are still a corporate secret, one thing is for sure. This thing sure looks like a racecar.

Are Stewart, Truex Trying to Ailienate Fans?

Last season was one of the best Nascar seasons in recent memory. Drivers like Trevor Bayne and Regan Smith finally breaking into victory lane, drivers getting into heated rivalries and close, exciting, side-by-side competition and a championship that was decided in a winner-take-all tiebreaker. Fans loved it and they showed up to the track in droves.

But this year, aside from the towering inferno midway through the first prime time Daytona 500 in Nascar history, the racing has been anything but exciting.

There have been very few cautions and torn up sheet metal this year. Tempers have remained in check and the on-track product has been more like Formula 1 and less like the rough and tumble spectacle fans have come to love.

So after Sunday's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, when drivers raced in a pack again and there were several wrecks, just like every other race at the Alabama speedway. But this time, after the race ended, there were a couple of drivers who decided to open their big mouths about the racing that had gone on and chastise the fans for questioning the racing that they are being provided.

First, Martin Truex, Jr took to Twitter to fill fans in on what his team's day was like, as drivers often do. After trading barbs with some Jeff Gordon fans, the New Jersey native posted "Guess the fans got the cautions they wanted today. Goodnight."

Tony Stewart chimed in as well, but he had much more to say.

"We didn't quite crash half the field which is what we normally look to do here," quipped Stewart. "I was excited about it. I thought it was a pretty good race. I made it further than I thought I would before I got crashed. I call it a successful day."

He went on to criticize Nascar and their minimizing the grille openings on the race cars and downsizing the radiators to five gallons. With the temperatures around 90- degrees most of the weekend, drivers were forced to monitor their gauges and manage their engines in a pack instead of racing in tandems, as had become the routine.

"It's fun to race and watch the gauges at the same time," Smoke went on to say. "It makes us drivers have to do so much more. Being able to make yourself run on the apron and everything else to try to get clean air, it makes it fun." The Stewart-Haas Racing owner later said the sanctioning body "...ought to just tape (the cars) off solid and run them until they blow up. I think it would make it a lot more exciting for the fans." He also cracked, "I feel bad if I don't spend at least $150,000 on torn up race cars going back to the shop. We definitely have to do a better job with that. I'm upset that we didn't crash more. I feel like that's what we are here for."

In closing, Stewart said the race should be extended until half the field is wrecked and for the next race, that the track should be reconfigured into a Figure Eight "and/or we can stop at the halfway point make a break and turn around and go backwards the rest of the way. Then, with 10 laps to go, we split the field in half. Half go the regular direction and half of them go backwards."

Drivers opinions do matter, but why do they feel the need to express them in a way that alienates longtime fans of the sport. Texas, Kansas and even Richmond at times featured nothing but single-file, green flag racing with little or no change in the running order and only fifteen or twenty cars on the lead lap. Race tickets are not cheap and, when coupled with high gas prices and hotel rates, fans spend a small fortune to come and see these drivers race. Without the fans, these 43 racers would have to get real jobs like the rest of us.

While, Stewart's comments were mostly a jab at Nascar's lack of flexibility with the rules at plate tracks now, the words wrecks and excitement were used interchangeably. Both he and Truex were no doubt referring to fans wanting to see wrecks, not the racing they are providing.

Calling fans names and making it sound like they only show up to watch drivers take their best shot at knocking down the wall is unfair and it's a great way to turn even more fans off a sport struggling with television ratings and low attendance. The NFL has not blamed their current issues with the New Orleans Saints on bloodthirsty fans because they realize that the fans are what make their sport possible.

If the fans want to see drivers race backwards in a Figure Eight, then that is what they should see on Sunday afternoon.

If we are not going to see bent up sheet metal and tempers during a race, then Nascar really needs to change their commercials for the All Star Race next week because it is nothing but wrecks set to Blake Shelton's hit "Kiss My Country Ass." Given how racing on the "cookie cutter" tracks has been this year, a more fitting ad would be footage of cars racing single file, set to Leroy Anderson's "The Syncopated Clock."

All these comments will do is make fans angry and drive them, especially the longtime ones, away from the sport. When television ratings drop even further and once packed grandstands are covered by tarps, we will see what the sport's elite have to say about the on-track product then.

David Reutimann: "I Was Just Trying to Finish"

Ryan Newman won Sunday's race at Martinsville, but he isn't the driver that everyone is talking about on Monday.

With just two laps remaining in the race, David Reutimann's Accell Construction Chevy stalled on the frontstrech and could not be refired. This set up a green white checker restart where Clint Bowyer divebombed Jeff Gordon into turn one, spinning himself, Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and taking the three most dominate cars on the day out of contention.

Naturally, after the race drivers were quick to assign blame for the incident. But instead of placing fault on Bowyer for making such a bonehead move, everyone piled on poor, ole Beak.

"It was pretty much a disaster," said Reutimann of what transpired late in the race. "We had brake problems early, and we were just trying to soldier on and get the finish we needed. Instead, we ended up right in the middle of a huge controversy. It's noting I needed, nothing the team needed and nothing I ever intended to happen. I wasn't trying to mess up anyone's day. My day was bad enough that I didn't need to mess up anyone else's."

While the Fox broadcast team just assumed Reutimann stopped his No. 10 Chevy on track to draw the caution intentionally, he had actually stopped because he had no other choice.

"The engine issue started about 30 laps from the end," Reutimann said in an interview with Dave Moody on SiriusXM's Sirius Speedway. "The car would stumble off the corners and start breaking up midway down the straightaway. It was almost like a carburetor issue -- if we still had carburetors on these things -- and we were just trying to hang on and finish the race.

"We had brake issues early on and the car had little or no brakes, so we were just trying to finish and stay in the Top-35. Then with five or six laps left, I went down in the corner and the left inner tie rod failed. (TBR teammate Dave Blaney) had pulled off the track a few laps earlier, and we knew if we could finish in front of him, we could end up staying in the top-35 in points, which was our only goal for the day."

"(Once the tie rod broke), the car was having trouble maintaining minimum speed, and I got the black flag. I tried to make it to pit road, but couldn't make it the first time because of traffic. I was hung up on the outside, there were cars going by me, and only one wheel would steer. You can't just turn down across the track in front of everybody. You've got to wait for an open spot, and at Martinsville, there aren't very many open spots. The second time down the back straightaway, we realized we only needed one or two more laps so we decided to try and push the issue. Nascar will usually give you a lap or two.

"(Crew chief and owner) Tommy (Baldwin) wasn't on the radio telling me, 'To heck with everybody else,' he just said to go as fast as I could and get a couple more laps if possible.

Reutiman went on to say that "ultimately, the motor just quit. The only thing I can figure is that it was something internal; a timing belt type of deal, because the motor didn't actually blow up. The thing just would not run, and I could not get back to pit road.

"If the motor doesn't quit, I make it back to pit road, cross the start/finish line again and maybe we're okay. If the front end isn't toed out a mile because the tie rods broke, it would probably have coasted around the race track and made it. But both things happened at the same time."

Reutimann also said he was unaware of the battle Gordon and Johnson were having for the win. "I didn't know who was leading and, quite honestly, I didn't care. I was trying to stay out of everybody's way and finish the race. I was trying to get my car to run two or three more laps and whoever won the race was irrelevant to me.

"I didn't just stop on the racetrack for the fun of stopping," Reutimann insisted. "Some people seem to think I just pulled out there and said, 'Ok, I've already run 490-something laps, so I think I'm going to stop now, just for fun.' I didn't want to stop the race, I just wanted to finish it.

"I apologize to everyone it affected, (especially) Hendrick Motorsports and their fans. We ended up destroying what could have been great days for a couple of the Hendrick guys. It's heartbreaking and people were saying some really sweet things (after the race). I don't blame Tommy, and I don't blame the team.

"It's my responsibility. I was driving the car. The fault rests on me."

Reutimann went on to say that he will reach out to some of the drivers affected in the coming days. "I will definitely have a talk with at least two of them. I will absolutely make a phone call to let them know I wasn't trying to screw them up. It doesn't make any difference (what I say) and it doesn't fix their day. I didn' want to be that guy. I don't ever want to be that guy. It's awful. Just freakin' awful."

Reutimann also said that he would not be dialing up some drivers anytime soon. "(A few) of them have already said enough that I don't feel like I need to."

Fans of David Reutimann know their driver. They know what he's about. They know that he is a racer and that he would never want to affect the outcome of a race. Having met him at Dover a few times, I can personally say that Reutimann is a class act and one of, if not, the nicest guy in the garage area.

When Fox's Dick Bergeren interviewed Reutimann after the race yesterday, fans saw a broken man. They saw a racer who was just so sick to his stomach over what happened, he could barely look at the camera. The guy was almost in tears. This truly was nothing more than a set of bad circumstances. David Reutimann is a genuine, true-blue guy who only lives to drive race cars.

All he was doing was what racers do: pushing their cars to the limit and running it till it won't run anymore. Kasey Kahne bashed Reutimann on Twitter after the race, but earlier in the day, Kahne raced a car with smoke pouring out of the back until it blew and leaked oil all over pit road. So since nobody had a problem with that, then there was absolutely, positively nothing wrong with what Reutimann was trying to do.

Hopefully, with this off week, drivers like Dale Jr and Clint Bowyer (two drivers who probably shouldn't wait by the phone to hear from Reut) will see what actually happened and maybe apologize for the ignorant remarks they made after the race. And maybe the broadcast "professionals" at Fox will do the same, instead of having Chris Meyers set up Michael Waltrip (Reutimann's former owner) to throw him under the bus again during the Texas race. There is no excuse for what the two stooges in the Hollywood Hotel were doing after the race.

Meanwhile, Reutimann will be forced to qualify on speed at Texas. But the speedway is one of, if not his best track and he will definitely be a driver to contend with. He's going to prove, once and for all, that he is going to be racing in the Sprint Cup Series for a long, long time.

Ryan Newman Scores Wreck-Marred Victory at Martinsville

After what looked like Hendrick Motorsports 200th victory, Ryan Newman claimed his first Ridgeway grandfather clock after the Goody's Fast Relief 500.

The four Hendrick teams ran up front all day long. Kasey Kahne won the pole and was in contention to win until his engine blew. Jeff Gordon put on a driving clinic, leading 328 of the 515 laps around the Virgina paper clip. Dale Earnhardt, Jr passed Gordon to lead three laps just before halfway and Jimmie Johnson proved to be the only driver who could contend with Gordon in the closing laps.

There wasn't much beating and banging and there were no lost tempers.

That is until David Reutimann's bad day turned much, much worse.

With two laps to go, Reutimann's No. 10 Chevy stalled on the frontstrech after breaking a tie rod and losing a motor, which set up a green white checkered finish. When the race went back green, Clint Bowyer divebombed Gordon into turn one, which knocked the No. 24 into Johnson's car and sent all three drivers spinning. You can see video of the mayhem here and hear some post race driver interviews, including Reutimann's side of the story.

Meanwhile, Newman and A.J. Allmendinger slipped through without a scratch.

On the next restart, Newman raced Allmendinger side by side for the final two laps and claimed his first Martinsville win. He also set the rest of America up with free bloomin' onions, courtesy of his sponsor, Outback Steakhouse.

But unfortunately, Newman was an afterthought when the race ended. Everyone from angry drivers to Fox's broadcast "professionals" (I use that term very loosely) were trying to throw Reutimann under the bus for something he could not have prevented.

So congratulations to Ryan Newman on his first win of the year, and shame on Fox for not focusing more on his victory and, instead, setting up Michael Waltrip (Reutimann's former owner) to badmouth his former driver.